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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. cold — an illness
  4. stock — goods
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. kid — to tease
  7. kid — child
  8. face — to confront
  9. face — to point toward
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. land — to come down
  12. cold — not warm
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. land — a country
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. wax — to grow
  20. stock — shares
  21. mine — for digging
  22. land — ground
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. fan — to cool the air

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