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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. stock — goods
  4. cold — an illness
  5. field — a subject
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. field — farmland
  8. fall — to drop
  9. field — for sport
  10. fall — the season
  11. can — a tin
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. game — wild animals
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. branch — a division
  16. can — to be able to
  17. cold — not warm
  18. game — a match
  19. fall — to drop
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. can — a tin
  22. stock — shares
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. game — a kind of play

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