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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. content — happy
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. content — the amount
  7. court — for sport
  8. stock — goods
  9. court — of law
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. rest — what's left
  12. bark — to shout
  13. scale — size or range
  14. rest — a break
  15. row — a line
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. scale — in music
  20. court — of a king
  21. row — to paddle
  22. rest — what's left
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. coach — a trainer

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