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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: fork · march · pit · race · stock · cold

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. stock — shares
  3. cold — an illness
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. march — the month
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. stock — goods
  8. race — the arms race
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. pit — a hole
  11. cold — not warm
  12. fork — in a road
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. race — a contest
  16. race — humankind
  17. march — music
  18. pit — in a race

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