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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. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. What do you think of the new ________________?
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. field — a subject
  5. stock — shares
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. face — part of the head
  8. bat — the animal
  9. content — the amount
  10. face — to point toward
  11. face — to confront
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. field — farmland
  16. content — happy
  17. race — humankind
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. field — for sport
  20. stock — goods
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. race — a contest
  24. race — the arms race

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