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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. track — to keep track
  3. content — the amount
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. cold — an illness
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. content — happy
  10. wind — moving air
  11. rash — a series
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. game — wild animals
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. stock — goods
  16. rash — hasty
  17. cold — not warm
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. track — a path
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. track — a song
  22. wind — moving air
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. stock — shares

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