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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. stock — goods
  3. band — a music group
  4. file — a document
  5. stock — shares
  6. content — the amount
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. file — a line of people
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. pit — in a race
  13. content — happy
  14. saw — the tool
  15. band — a ring
  16. cold — an illness
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. saw — the tool
  21. cold — not warm
  22. file — a tool
  23. pit — a hole
  24. nail — on a finger

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