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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 120 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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. I've got to change the light ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. wind — moving air
  3. bulb — for light
  4. stock — goods
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bat — the animal
  7. wind — moving air
  8. file — a tool
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. file — a document
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bulb — for light
  19. court — of law
  20. file — a line of people
  21. court — of a king
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. stock — shares
  24. court — for sport

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