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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. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — past of 'see'
  2. last — to go on
  3. swing — in golf
  4. stock — goods
  5. press — to push
  6. last — final
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. kid — child
  9. last — finally
  10. mine — for digging
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. saw — the tool
  16. saw — the tool
  17. cold — not warm
  18. swing — to play on
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. stock — shares
  21. press — a publisher
  22. kid — to tease
  23. press — newspapers
  24. swing — music

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