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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. can — to be able to
  4. land — ground
  5. bound — certain
  6. can — a tin
  7. stock — shares
  8. land — to come down
  9. can — a tin
  10. bound — obliged
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — an illness
  13. game — a match
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. bound — tied together
  17. stock — goods
  18. land — a country

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