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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: bowl · fall · content · squash · stock · pitch · face · kid

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. content — the amount
  3. face — to point toward
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. squash — the sport
  6. fall — to drop
  7. squash — to crush
  8. stock — goods
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. kid — to tease
  11. face — part of the head
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. fall — to drop
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. face — to confront
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. kid — child
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. pitch — completely
  23. fall — the season
  24. content — happy

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