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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. net — in sport
  3. cold — an illness
  4. mate — to breed
  5. kid — to tease
  6. stock — goods
  7. court — for sport
  8. kid — child
  9. lean — to bend
  10. court — of law
  11. stock — shares
  12. plane — a tool
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. net — after costs
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. mate — a partner
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. lean — thin
  19. net — for catching
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. mate — a friend
  22. court — of a king
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. plane — an aircraft

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