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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. wake — a trail
  4. stock — shares
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. last — finally
  7. wind — moving air
  8. rule — a law
  9. field — a subject
  10. wind — moving air
  11. pit — a hole
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. pit — in a race
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. stock — goods
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. rule — government
  19. field — farmland
  20. pit — a fruit stone
  21. field — for sport
  22. last — to go on
  23. sharp — clever
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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