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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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. chest — a box
  4. net — in sport
  5. net — for catching
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. stock — shares
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. content — happy
  11. stand — for spectators
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. drill — a practice
  15. content — the amount
  16. stock — goods
  17. shower — to wash
  18. drill — the tool
  19. stand — to bear
  20. shower — rain
  21. drill — army training
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. net — after costs
  24. chest — of your body

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