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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. stock — goods
  3. cap — a lid
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. fine — high quality
  6. wind — moving air
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. tear — from crying
  9. stock — shares
  10. ball — a great time
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wound — an injury
  13. tear — to rip
  14. last — to go on
  15. cap — of ice
  16. last — finally
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. ball — a dance
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. last — final
  21. wind — moving air
  22. fine — all right
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. tear — from crying

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