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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. face — to confront
  4. stock — goods
  5. cold — not warm
  6. stock — shares
  7. game — wild animals
  8. game — a match
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. face — to point toward
  11. cold — an illness
  12. face — part of the head
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. file — a line of people
  17. kid — to tease
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. kid — child
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. file — a document
  22. file — a tool
  23. lie — to recline
  24. fan — a supporter

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