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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. cold — an illness
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. can — a tin
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. stock — goods
  11. stock — shares
  12. file — a document
  13. file — a tool
  14. kid — child
  15. can — to be able to
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. can — a tin
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. pit — a hole
  20. pit — in a race
  21. file — a line of people
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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