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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. rash — a series
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. rash — hasty
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. scale — in music
  9. object — an aim
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. game — a match
  12. cold — an illness
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. object — a thing
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. mine — for digging
  17. stock — shares
  18. cold — not warm
  19. stock — goods
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. scale — size or range
  23. game — wild animals
  24. object — to protest

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