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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. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. march — the month
  3. staff — employees
  4. shower — rain
  5. field — a subject
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. drill — a practice
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. stock — shares
  11. drill — army training
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. staff — a stick
  14. field — farmland
  15. field — for sport
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. shower — to wash
  18. wound — an injury
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. wound — an injury
  21. staff — employees
  22. march — the month
  23. march — music
  24. drill — the tool

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