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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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. stick — a piece of wood
  4. ball — a dance
  5. ground — the earth
  6. stock — shares
  7. mate — a partner
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. cold — an illness
  10. fall — the season
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. fall — to drop
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. cold — not warm
  15. scale — in music
  16. mate — a friend
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. mate — to breed
  21. fall — to drop
  22. stock — goods
  23. scale — size or range
  24. ball — a great time

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