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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 116 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 water is too ________________.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. race — humankind
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. field — for sport
  7. hand — help
  8. cold — an illness
  9. race — a contest
  10. ball — a great time
  11. ball — a dance
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. field — a subject
  14. stock — goods
  15. hand — in cards
  16. wax — to grow
  17. race — the arms race
  18. stock — shares
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. field — farmland

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