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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. The light ________________ burned out.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. stock — goods
  3. swing — to play on
  4. bound — obliged
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bound — tied together
  7. bound — certain
  8. bulb — for light
  9. kid — to tease
  10. press — newspapers
  11. press — a publisher
  12. press — to push
  13. wind — moving air
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. stock — shares
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. cold — not warm
  19. kid — child
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. bulb — for light
  22. swing — in golf
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. swing — music

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