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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 116 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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. stock — shares
  3. content — happy
  4. drill — army training
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. clip — a video
  7. content — the amount
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. drill — a practice
  10. band — a music group
  11. clip — to cut
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. cold — an illness
  15. drill — the tool
  16. stock — goods
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. cold — not warm
  19. band — a ring
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. bat — the animal
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. clip — for paper

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