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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 supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. The light ________________ burned out.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. bulb — for light
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. spell — a short time
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. tear — from crying
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. stock — shares
  9. cold — not warm
  10. spell — letters
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. tear — to rip
  13. can — a tin
  14. tear — from crying
  15. can — to be able to
  16. row — to paddle
  17. can — a tin
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. row — a line
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. bulb — for light
  22. cold — an illness
  23. plane — a tool
  24. spell — magic

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