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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  6. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. You shouldn't ________________ things.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. stock — shares
  3. cold — an illness
  4. drill — the tool
  5. cue — a hint
  6. cue — a signal
  7. field — farmland
  8. stock — goods
  9. cold — not warm
  10. deal — a big deal
  11. field — a subject
  12. cue — for pool
  13. rush — hurry
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. bass — the fish
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. field — for sport
  19. drill — army training
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. drill — a practice
  23. deal — to handle
  24. rush — to hurry

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