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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Where did you ________________ them?
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. mug — a cup
  4. stock — shares
  5. capital — money
  6. mine — for digging
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. mug — a face
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. capital — a city
  11. hand — in cards
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — an illness
  16. hand — help
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. prune — to trim
  19. mug — to rob
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. prune — to trim
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. stock — goods

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