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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. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. club — a group
  3. content — the amount
  4. game — a match
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. prune — to trim
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. club — for golf
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. game — wild animals
  13. content — happy
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. prune — to trim
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. club — for dancing
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. cell — a phone
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. stock — shares
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. cell — in biology

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