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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 supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. lean — thin
  3. ground — a position
  4. game — wild animals
  5. ground — crushed
  6. stock — shares
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. shower — to wash
  10. lie — to recline
  11. kid — to tease
  12. lean — to bend
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. ground — the earth
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. game — a match
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. kid — child
  24. shower — rain

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