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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 124 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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. march — music
  4. fork — in a road
  5. pop — soda
  6. spell — letters
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. spell — a short time
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. spell — magic
  11. stock — shares
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. pound — a weight
  14. march — the month
  15. cold — an illness
  16. pop — music
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. stock — goods
  20. dip — to sink
  21. cold — not warm
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. march — the month
  24. pound — for dogs

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