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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. face — to confront
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. kid — to tease
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. rash — hasty
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. face — to point toward
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. content — happy
  13. content — the amount
  14. stock — goods
  15. shower — rain
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. chair — a leader
  19. face — part of the head
  20. stock — shares
  21. kid — child
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. rash — a series
  24. chair — to sit on

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