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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 124 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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. content — the amount
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. stock — goods
  5. degree — an amount
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. spring — the season
  8. degree — from a university
  9. stock — shares
  10. roll — a list
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. content — happy
  13. kid — child
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. degree — temperature
  17. kid — to tease
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. band — a ring
  20. band — a music group
  21. deal — to handle
  22. spring — a coil
  23. spring — of water
  24. band — a rubber band

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