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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. file — a document
  3. cold — not warm
  4. file — a line of people
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. content — happy
  8. rash — hasty
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. chair — a leader
  11. stock — goods
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. last — final
  14. cold — an illness
  15. last — to go on
  16. wave — with your hand
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. rash — a series
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. content — the amount
  22. stock — shares
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. file — a tool

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