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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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. rule — government
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. stock — goods
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. race — a contest
  9. staff — employees
  10. row — a line
  11. race — humankind
  12. staff — a stick
  13. face — part of the head
  14. cold — an illness
  15. race — the arms race
  16. face — to point toward
  17. game — a match
  18. row — to paddle
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. rule — a law
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. face — to confront
  23. game — wild animals
  24. staff — employees

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