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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. stock — shares
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. snap — to click
  6. game — a match
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. bulb — for light
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. stock — goods
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. hand — help
  15. spring — a coil
  16. bulb — for light
  17. cold — an illness
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. spring — of water
  22. hand — in cards
  23. spring — the season
  24. stock — a soup base

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