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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. saw — the tool
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. key — for a lock
  7. key — the most important part
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. ball — a dance
  10. key — in music
  11. snap — to click
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. stock — goods
  14. cold — an illness
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. cold — not warm
  18. saw — the tool
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. ball — a great time
  21. stock — shares
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bat — for baseball

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