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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. stock — shares
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. court — of law
  7. spell — letters
  8. fall — to drop
  9. court — for sport
  10. cold — an illness
  11. fall — the season
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. chair — a leader
  16. court — of a king
  17. kid — to tease
  18. stock — goods
  19. cold — not warm
  20. spell — a short time
  21. spell — magic
  22. kid — child
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. fall — to drop

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