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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  21. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. cold — an illness
  3. spell — letters
  4. spell — a short time
  5. fall — to drop
  6. stock — goods
  7. fall — the season
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. capital — a city
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. safe — a strongbox
  14. capital — money
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. spell — magic
  17. race — the arms race
  18. race — humankind
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. safe — out of danger
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. race — a contest
  23. fall — to drop
  24. stock — a soup base

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