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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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. tear — to rip
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. stock — goods
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. sharp — clever
  8. march — the month
  9. march — music
  10. march — the month
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. net — after costs
  13. net — for catching
  14. lean — to bend
  15. cold — not warm
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. lean — thin
  18. cold — an illness
  19. tear — from crying
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. tear — from crying
  23. net — in sport
  24. snap — to click

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