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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 120 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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. stock — shares
  4. last — final
  5. last — to go on
  6. rush — hurry
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. last — finally
  9. wind — moving air
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. cold — not warm
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. kid — child
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. wind — moving air
  20. plane — a tool
  21. plane — in geometry
  22. stock — goods
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. kid — to tease

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