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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  7. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. capital — a city
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. pop — music
  6. can — a tin
  7. wave — of the sea
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — not warm
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. capital — money
  12. kid — child
  13. stock — goods
  14. pop — soda
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. can — to be able to
  19. can — a tin
  20. pop — to visit
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. stock — shares

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