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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'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. stock — goods
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. rule — a law
  5. stock — shares
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. tube — the underground
  8. ground — the earth
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. cell — in biology
  11. tube — a container
  12. squash — to crush
  13. rule — government
  14. ground — crushed
  15. rash — hasty
  16. ground — a position
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. rash — a series
  19. cold — an illness
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. cell — a phone
  23. cold — not warm
  24. stock — a soup base

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