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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. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. date — the fruit
  3. hand — help
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. file — a tool
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. stock — shares
  10. cold — not warm
  11. rule — a law
  12. file — a document
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. rule — government
  16. club — for dancing
  17. cold — an illness
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. hand — in cards
  20. hide — animal skin
  21. club — a group
  22. file — a line of people
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. club — for golf

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