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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. club — a group
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bear — the animal
  7. scale — size or range
  8. cold — an illness
  9. track — a path
  10. cold — not warm
  11. stock — goods
  12. bear — the animal
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. club — for dancing
  18. club — for golf
  19. stock — shares
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. wound — an injury
  22. scale — in music
  23. track — a song
  24. stock — a soup base

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