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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. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — for pool
  2. cue — a hint
  3. land — a country
  4. land — ground
  5. stick — to attach or keep to
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. cue — a signal
  9. hand — in cards
  10. wound — an injury
  11. stock — shares
  12. hand — help
  13. wind — moving air
  14. stock — goods
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. cold — an illness
  19. wound — an injury
  20. cold — not warm
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. land — to come down
  24. wind — moving air

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