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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  17. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  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. land — to come down
  2. fall — to drop
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. land — a country
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. cold — an illness
  10. kick — in football
  11. band — a music group
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. land — ground
  14. bat — the animal
  15. fall — to drop
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. stick — to attach or keep to
  18. band — a ring
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. fall — the season
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. stock — shares
  23. bat — for baseball
  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