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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 116 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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. can — a tin
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. cold — not warm
  7. land — to come down
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. stock — goods
  10. land — a country
  11. cold — an illness
  12. can — to be able to
  13. wind — moving air
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. stock — shares
  18. land — ground
  19. spring — the season
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. spring — of water
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. wind — moving air
  24. can — a tin

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