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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. wave — a sudden rise
  3. stock — goods
  4. present — a gift
  5. cell — a phone
  6. rash — hasty
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. game — wild animals
  9. bark — to shout
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. present — there
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. stock — shares
  14. wave — of the sea
  15. game — a match
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. present — the time now
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. cell — in biology
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. kid — child
  24. rash — a series

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