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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. bass — low music
  3. pit — a hole
  4. cold — not warm
  5. mark — a trace
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. chest — a box
  9. mark — a grade
  10. cold — an illness
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. march — music
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. pit — in a race
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. march — the month
  17. march — the month
  18. stock — goods
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bass — the fish
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. hide — animal skin

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