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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  15. My mare is ________________ in color.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. wound — an injury
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. field — a subject
  7. wind — moving air
  8. hand — help
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. sharp — clever
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. wound — an injury
  13. hand — in cards
  14. bay — to keep at bay
  15. bay — a horse colour
  16. field — for sport
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. wind — moving air
  20. rash — hasty
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. rash — a series
  23. stock — shares
  24. stock — goods

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