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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 120 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 water is too ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. ground — crushed
  3. can — to be able to
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. stock — goods
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. can — a tin
  10. wind — moving air
  11. land — ground
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. ground — the earth
  15. ground — a position
  16. sharp — clever
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. land — to come down
  19. row — a line
  20. can — a tin
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. land — a country
  23. row — to paddle
  24. 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