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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. ground — crushed
  3. cold — an illness
  4. stock — shares
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. snap — to click
  7. stock — goods
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. cold — not warm
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. bass — the fish
  12. bass — low music
  13. bound — certain
  14. ground — the earth
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. kid — to tease
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. kid — child
  22. bound — obliged
  23. bound — tied together
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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