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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. The ________________ took off on time.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  23. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — an aircraft
  2. stock — goods
  3. wind — moving air
  4. file — a line of people
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. file — a tool
  8. stock — shares
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. wind — moving air
  12. plane — a tool
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. file — a document
  15. hand — in cards
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. hand — help
  19. cold — not warm
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. bowl — a dish
  23. bay — a part of the sea
  24. plane — in geometry

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