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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. spring — of water
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. stock — shares
  6. net — for catching
  7. scale — size or range
  8. stock — goods
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. net — after costs
  14. cold — an illness
  15. fall — the season
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. scale — in music
  18. fall — to drop
  19. net — in sport
  20. fall — to drop
  21. spring — the season
  22. cold — not warm
  23. wind — moving air
  24. coach — a trainer

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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