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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. content — happy
  4. cap — a hat
  5. cap — a lid
  6. chest — of your body
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. content — the amount
  9. band — a music group
  10. chest — a box
  11. cap — of ice
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. chest — of your body
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. band — a ring
  18. stock — goods
  19. staff — employees
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. stock — shares
  23. staff — employees
  24. bat — the animal

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com