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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 120 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. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. track — a path
  4. spring — a coil
  5. track — to keep track
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. stock — goods
  8. content — the amount
  9. row — a line
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. tube — the underground
  12. degree — temperature
  13. tube — a container
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. track — a song
  17. spring — of water
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. degree — an amount
  20. row — to paddle
  21. stock — shares
  22. degree — from a university
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. spring — the season

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