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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. stock — goods
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. file — a tool
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cap — of ice
  10. cold — an illness
  11. stock — shares
  12. swing — to play on
  13. cap — a hat
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. mine — for digging
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. swing — in golf
  18. swing — music
  19. cap — a lid
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. file — a line of people
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. pound — a weight
  24. file — a document

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