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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 120 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 got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. plane — a tool
  3. spring — of water
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. cold — not warm
  7. stock — goods
  8. cold — an illness
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. wake — a trail
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. hand — help
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. branch — a division
  17. spring — a coil
  18. kid — child
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. kid — to tease
  23. spring — the season
  24. stock — shares

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