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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. snap — to click
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bear — the animal
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. pop — music
  11. sharp — clever
  12. pop — to visit
  13. bear — the animal
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. band — a ring
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. band — a music group
  18. stock — goods
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. pop — soda
  22. cold — an illness
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. band — a rubber band

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