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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 kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. field — farmland
  3. stock — goods
  4. net — for catching
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. mine — for digging
  9. mate — to breed
  10. net — in sport
  11. current — happening now
  12. mate — a partner
  13. scale — size or range
  14. field — a subject
  15. mate — a friend
  16. current — electric
  17. stock — shares
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — not warm
  20. scale — in music
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. net — after costs
  23. field — for sport
  24. current — of water

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