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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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. stock — shares
  4. field — farmland
  5. spring — the season
  6. stock — goods
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. drill — the tool
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. spring — a coil
  11. field — for sport
  12. sharp — clever
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. field — a subject
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. drill — a practice
  17. content — happy
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. chair — a leader
  20. content — the amount
  21. spring — of water
  22. drill — army training
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. trunk — of a car

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