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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 do you think of the new ________________?
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. cold — not warm
  6. last — final
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. cold — an illness
  11. last — finally
  12. rock — music
  13. stock — shares
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. march — music
  16. march — the month
  17. bat — the animal
  18. march — the month
  19. stock — goods
  20. stem — to come from
  21. last — to go on
  22. rock — a stone
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. stem — a stem cell

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