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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: content · chest · wave · cabinet · pitcher · straw · track · stock

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chest — a box
  6. content — happy
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. track — a path
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. stock — shares
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. track — to keep track
  15. chest — of your body
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. content — the amount
  18. track — a song
  19. wave — with your hand
  20. stock — goods
  21. wave — of the sea
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. pitcher — a jug

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