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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. prune — to trim
  4. prune — to trim
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. court — of a king
  7. race — the arms race
  8. kid — to tease
  9. court — of law
  10. cap — a lid
  11. race — a contest
  12. swing — music
  13. kid — child
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. swing — to play on
  16. sharp — clever
  17. cap — a hat
  18. cap — of ice
  19. court — for sport
  20. race — humankind
  21. stock — goods
  22. swing — in golf
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. stock — a soup base

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