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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. stock — goods
  4. current — happening now
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. land — to come down
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. file — a document
  9. land — a country
  10. current — electric
  11. sharp — clever
  12. file — a tool
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. ground — crushed
  15. cold — not warm
  16. stock — shares
  17. current — of water
  18. ground — the earth
  19. cold — an illness
  20. file — a line of people
  21. ground — a position
  22. scale — in music
  23. land — ground
  24. cold — the Cold War

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