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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: swing · cold · date · rule · stock · racket

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. rule — a law
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. stock — goods
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. date — the fruit
  7. cold — an illness
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. stock — shares
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — not warm
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. swing — in golf
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. swing — music
  18. rule — government

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