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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. bulb — of a plant
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. land — ground
  5. hand — in cards
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. stock — goods
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. stock — shares
  10. land — to come down
  11. bulb — for light
  12. fall — to drop
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. current — of water
  15. fall — the season
  16. bulb — for light
  17. current — happening now
  18. land — a country
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. fall — to drop
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — an illness
  24. current — electric

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