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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. game — wild animals
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. stock — shares
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. can — a tin
  8. race — humankind
  9. race — a contest
  10. season — of the year
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. sharp — clever
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. can — to be able to
  19. game — a match
  20. stock — goods
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. can — a tin
  23. season — in sport
  24. race — the arms race

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