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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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. drill — a practice
  3. drill — the tool
  4. tear — from crying
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. bass — low music
  7. stock — goods
  8. bass — the fish
  9. tear — to rip
  10. chest — a box
  11. chest — of your body
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. stock — shares
  14. shower — to wash
  15. shower — rain
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. tear — from crying
  18. court — for sport
  19. chest — of your body
  20. court — of law
  21. drill — army training
  22. court — of a king
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. content — the amount

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