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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. stock — shares
  3. spell — a short time
  4. spell — letters
  5. fine — high quality
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. track — a path
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. cold — an illness
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. track — to keep track
  14. capital — money
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. spell — magic
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. capital — a city
  22. track — a song
  23. cold — not warm
  24. stock — goods

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