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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  9. I've got to change the light ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. bulb — for light
  4. kid — child
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. board — a committee
  7. net — for catching
  8. bulb — of a plant
  9. bulb — for light
  10. stock — shares
  11. tear — from crying
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. last — finally
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. kid — to tease
  16. tear — from crying
  17. last — to go on
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. net — after costs
  20. board — to get on
  21. net — in sport
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. tear — to rip
  24. stock — goods

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