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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. field — farmland
  3. bound — certain
  4. chair — a leader
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. bound — tied together
  7. stock — goods
  8. land — to come down
  9. cabinet — a cupboard
  10. wound — an injury
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. snap — to click
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. land — ground
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. bound — obliged
  20. stock — shares
  21. field — for sport
  22. land — a country
  23. field — a subject
  24. wound — an injury

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