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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. drill — a practice
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. cold — not warm
  6. land — ground
  7. stock — shares
  8. stock — goods
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. drill — the tool
  11. shower — rain
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. land — to come down
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. wound — an injury
  17. drill — army training
  18. deal — to handle
  19. ball — a dance
  20. ball — a great time
  21. deal — a big deal
  22. land — a country
  23. wound — an injury
  24. shower — to wash

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