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

Word bank: bass · cap · mate · kid · date · content · race · stock

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. mate — a friend
  3. race — humankind
  4. kid — child
  5. bass — the fish
  6. stock — goods
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. date — the fruit
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. cap — a lid
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. kid — to tease
  14. race — a contest
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. race — the arms race
  17. cap — a hat
  18. mate — to breed
  19. mate — a partner
  20. cap — of ice
  21. content — the amount
  22. stock — shares
  23. bass — low music
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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