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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. What do you think of the new ________________?
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  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. file — a line of people
  2. cold — not warm
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. file — a tool
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. mine — for digging
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. cabinet — a cupboard
  11. cold — an illness
  12. file — a document
  13. stock — shares
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. kid — child
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. bear — the animal
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. bear — the animal
  22. kid — to tease
  23. stock — goods
  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