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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. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. face — part of the head
  3. prune — to trim
  4. ground — crushed
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. chest — a box
  7. cold — an illness
  8. chest — of your body
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. prune — to trim
  11. content — happy
  12. cold — not warm
  13. stock — shares
  14. ground — the earth
  15. content — the amount
  16. face — to confront
  17. chest — of your body
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. ground — a position
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. face — to point toward

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