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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. chair — a leader
  4. ground — the earth
  5. stock — goods
  6. land — a country
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. land — ground
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. object — to protest
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. stock — shares
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. content — the amount
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. object — an aim
  19. land — to come down
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. object — a thing
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. ground — a position
  24. ground — crushed

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