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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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. kid — child
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. cap — a hat
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — to rip
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. stock — goods
  11. branch — a division
  12. kid — to tease
  13. cap — a lid
  14. fine — all right
  15. shower — to wash
  16. bark — to shout
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. shower — rain
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. fine — high quality
  23. cap — of ice
  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