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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. squash — to crush
  3. stock — goods
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. march — the month
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. squash — the sport
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. lean — to bend
  12. game — a match
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cell — a phone
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. march — music
  18. march — the month
  19. lean — thin
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. game — wild animals
  22. cell — in biology
  23. stock — shares
  24. lean — to rest against

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