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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. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. stock — goods
  3. cold — not warm
  4. spring — the season
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. cap — a hat
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. file — a tool
  10. cold — an illness
  11. march — music
  12. stock — shares
  13. spring — of water
  14. safe — a strongbox
  15. cap — of ice
  16. spring — a coil
  17. file — a document
  18. file — a line of people
  19. march — the month
  20. cap — a lid
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. march — the month
  24. hide — to keep secret

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