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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: cell · stock · chip · cold · bay · deal · fall · pop

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. My mare is ________________ in color.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. cell — in biology
  3. cell — a phone
  4. bay — a horse colour
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. stock — goods
  11. fall — to drop
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. fall — to drop
  14. pop — soda
  15. stock — shares
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pop — music
  18. chip — for betting
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. cold — not warm
  21. deal — to handle
  22. chip — to eat
  23. fall — the season
  24. chip — in a computer

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