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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. lean — to bend
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. stock — shares
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. bat — the animal
  9. lean — thin
  10. prune — to trim
  11. stock — goods
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. rash — a series
  16. rash — hasty
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. prune — to trim
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. mine — for digging
  22. cold — not warm
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. bat — in an idiom

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