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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. My mare is ________________ in color.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. stock — shares
  3. stock — goods
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. spring — a coil
  7. cold — an illness
  8. game — a match
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. bay — to keep at bay
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. spring — of water
  15. spring — the season
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. pound — a weight
  18. game — wild animals
  19. date — the fruit
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. bay — a part of the sea
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. bay — a horse colour

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