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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. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. march — music
  3. hand — help
  4. stock — shares
  5. ball — a great time
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. race — a contest
  11. field — a subject
  12. stock — goods
  13. march — the month
  14. march — the month
  15. cold — an illness
  16. field — for sport
  17. race — the arms race
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. hand — in cards
  20. ball — a dance
  21. cold — not warm
  22. field — farmland
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. race — humankind

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