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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 116 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 sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. My mare is ________________ in color.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a part of the sea
  2. net — after costs
  3. wind — moving air
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. pop — music
  7. rest — what's left
  8. stock — shares
  9. cold — not warm
  10. net — in sport
  11. pop — to visit
  12. spell — magic
  13. bay — to keep at bay
  14. stock — goods
  15. wind — moving air
  16. cold — an illness
  17. spell — a short time
  18. net — for catching
  19. bay — a horse colour
  20. rest — a break
  21. spell — letters
  22. pop — soda
  23. rest — what's left
  24. wind — to turn a key

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