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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. spell — magic
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. stock — shares
  7. fine — all right
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cold — an illness
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. fine — a penalty
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. fine — high quality
  14. game — wild animals
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. cell — in biology
  17. cold — not warm
  18. spell — a short time
  19. game — a match
  20. deal — to handle
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. stock — goods
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. game — a kind of play

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