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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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  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. cold — an illness
  3. press — to push
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. chip — for betting
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. chip — to eat
  10. press — newspapers
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. cold — not warm
  13. row — to paddle
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. mine — for digging
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. degree — from a university
  19. press — a publisher
  20. degree — an amount
  21. row — a line
  22. degree — temperature
  23. deal — to handle
  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