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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. pit — a hole
  3. spring — a coil
  4. plane — a tool
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. stock — goods
  8. spring — of water
  9. field — for sport
  10. field — farmland
  11. cold — an illness
  12. kid — to tease
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. field — a subject
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bear — the animal
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. pit — in a race
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. spring — the season
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. stock — shares
  24. bear — the animal

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