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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 water is too ________________.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. net — after costs
  4. stock — goods
  5. swing — in golf
  6. swing — to play on
  7. bass — low music
  8. toast — bread
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. toast — a drink to someone
  11. swing — music
  12. net — in sport
  13. cold — an illness
  14. net — for catching
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. march — the month
  17. march — the month
  18. bass — the fish
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. stock — shares
  22. perch — the fish
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. march — music

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