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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. land — ground
  3. stock — goods
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. land — a country
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. firm — decided
  8. perch — the fish
  9. land — to come down
  10. firm — steady
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — an illness
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. firm — a company
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. stock — shares

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