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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Where did you ________________ them?
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. tear — to rip
  3. file — a document
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. file — a line of people
  6. tear — from crying
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. roll — a cake
  9. roll — a list
  10. land — a country
  11. mug — to rob
  12. tear — from crying
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. mug — a cup
  15. stock — goods
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — not warm
  18. land — ground
  19. file — a tool
  20. land — to come down
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. prune — to trim
  23. stock — shares
  24. prune — to trim

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