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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 had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. My mare is ________________ in color.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. stock — shares
  3. kid — child
  4. bay — a horse colour
  5. last — to go on
  6. march — the month
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. spring — a coil
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bay — a part of the sea
  13. march — music
  14. stock — goods
  15. kid — to tease
  16. rash — hasty
  17. march — the month
  18. rash — a series
  19. last — finally
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. last — final
  22. spring — the season
  23. cold — not warm
  24. spring — of water

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