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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. land — to come down
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. land — a country
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. cap — a hat
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. cap — a lid
  13. cold — an illness
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. mark — a grade
  16. saw — the tool
  17. cap — of ice
  18. saw — the tool
  19. cold — not warm
  20. stock — goods
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. stock — shares
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. mark — a trace

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