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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 water is too ________________.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. drill — a practice
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. drill — the tool
  5. stock — goods
  6. fork — in a road
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. spring — the season
  9. spring — of water
  10. stock — shares
  11. game — a match
  12. game — wild animals
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. bore — to drill
  15. bore — to tire
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. tube — a container
  18. tube — the underground
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. drill — army training
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — an illness
  23. spring — a coil
  24. tube — in a tire

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