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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. fine — all right
  3. game — wild animals
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. game — a match
  6. shower — to wash
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. cold — an illness
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. race — a contest
  12. cold — not warm
  13. race — humankind
  14. stock — shares
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. ball — a great time
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. fine — high quality
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. shower — rain
  22. stock — goods
  23. ball — a dance
  24. race — the arms race

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