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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'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. chest — of your body
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. sharp — clever
  6. cue — for pool
  7. last — to go on
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. cold — an illness
  10. stem — to come from
  11. stock — shares
  12. pitch — completely
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. last — final
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. cold — not warm
  18. chest — of your body
  19. last — finally
  20. stock — goods
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. chest — a box
  24. cue — a signal

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