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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. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. stock — goods
  3. content — happy
  4. fall — to drop
  5. game — wild animals
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. content — the amount
  8. season — in sport
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. game — a match
  13. fall — to drop
  14. bat — the animal
  15. snap — to click
  16. can — to be able to
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. season — of the year
  19. stock — shares
  20. can — a tin
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. fall — the season
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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