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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 supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. stock — goods
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. band — a music group
  5. bat — the animal
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. present — there
  10. band — a ring
  11. last — final
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. last — finally
  14. cold — an illness
  15. last — to go on
  16. hand — help
  17. stock — shares
  18. present — a gift
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. hand — in cards
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. present — the time now
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. cold — the Cold War

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