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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 116 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. cold — not warm
  3. stock — goods
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. tear — from crying
  6. stock — shares
  7. pass — a permit
  8. tear — from crying
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. cold — an illness
  11. tear — to rip
  12. hand — in cards
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. coach — pulled by horses

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