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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. stock — goods
  3. perch — the fish
  4. clip — to cut
  5. content — the amount
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. present — a gift
  8. present — the time now
  9. spring — of water
  10. present — there
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — for paper
  14. pass — to succeed
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. kid — child
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. spring — the season
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. stock — shares
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. pass — a permit
  23. spring — a coil
  24. kid — to tease

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