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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. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. press — a publisher
  3. mine — for digging
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. file — a tool
  7. cold — an illness
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. file — a document
  10. firm — steady
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. press — newspapers
  13. file — a line of people
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. stock — shares
  18. cold — not warm
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. firm — decided
  21. press — to push
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. firm — a company
  24. racket — a loud noise

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