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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 124 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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cap — a hat
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — farmland
  7. bat — the animal
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. cold — an illness
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. cold — not warm
  12. sharp — clever
  13. field — a subject
  14. cap — a lid
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. cap — of ice
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. stock — goods
  24. stock — a soup base

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