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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  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. cap — a hat
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. lean — to bend
  4. sharp — clever
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. lean — thin
  9. march — the month
  10. game — a match
  11. stock — goods
  12. wind — moving air
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. cap — of ice
  15. wind — moving air
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. stock — shares
  18. march — the month
  19. cap — a lid
  20. march — music
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. game — wild animals
  23. bat — the animal
  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