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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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. land — to come down
  5. land — a country
  6. season — of the year
  7. fall — to drop
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. foot — a measure
  10. season — in sport
  11. bound — certain
  12. land — ground
  13. prune — to trim
  14. cold — an illness
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. fall — the season
  17. bound — obliged
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bound — tied together
  22. prune — to trim
  23. fall — to drop
  24. stock — goods

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