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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. stock — shares
  4. stock — goods
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. shower — rain
  7. field — for sport
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. ball — a great time
  10. capital — money
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. current — electric
  13. current — happening now
  14. shower — to wash
  15. current — of water
  16. field — farmland
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. cold — not warm
  20. ball — a dance
  21. capital — a city
  22. field — a subject
  23. stem — to come from
  24. cold — an illness

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