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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. fall — the season
  3. wound — an injury
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. swing — to play on
  6. swing — in golf
  7. fall — to drop
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — not warm
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. cold — an illness
  12. wound — an injury
  13. branch — a division
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. chair — a leader
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. swing — music
  19. fall — to drop
  20. sharp — clever
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. stock — goods
  24. stock — shares

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