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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 124 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 refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Where did you ________________ them?
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. mug — a cup
  3. stock — goods
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. land — a country
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — an illness
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. shower — rain
  12. squash — to crush
  13. stock — shares
  14. squash — the sport
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. chair — a leader
  17. land — ground
  18. mug — to rob
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. shower — to wash
  22. mine — for digging
  23. land — to come down
  24. mug — a face

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