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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. kid — to tease
  3. net — after costs
  4. net — for catching
  5. cold — an illness
  6. mark — a trace
  7. kid — child
  8. stock — shares
  9. net — in sport
  10. fork — in a road
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. wake — a trail
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. game — wild animals
  20. game — a match
  21. cold — not warm
  22. mark — a grade
  23. stock — goods
  24. wake — before a funeral

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