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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 116 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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. When will it ________________ you to start?
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  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. stock — a soup base
  2. cold — not warm
  3. stock — goods
  4. cell — in biology
  5. cell — a phone
  6. cold — an illness
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. suit — in cards
  9. hand — in cards
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. wake — a trail
  13. suit — to fit
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. suit — clothes
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. band — a music group
  18. pound — a weight
  19. hand — help
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. stock — shares
  22. band — a ring
  23. pound — to hit hard
  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