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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. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. stock — goods
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. clip — a video
  7. clip — to cut
  8. cold — an illness
  9. rash — a series
  10. net — in sport
  11. rash — hasty
  12. stock — shares
  13. season — of the year
  14. tear — to rip
  15. sharp — clever
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. season — in sport
  18. net — after costs
  19. cold — not warm
  20. net — for catching
  21. tear — from crying
  22. clip — for paper
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. tear — from crying

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