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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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. cabinet — a cupboard
  4. wind — moving air
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — not warm
  9. rock — a stone
  10. game — a match
  11. spring — of water
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. spring — the season
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. stock — shares
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. rock — music
  18. stock — goods
  19. spring — a coil
  20. cold — an illness
  21. game — wild animals
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. wind — moving air
  24. arm — a part of something

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