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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: march · bay · kid · cold · mark · bore · stock · chest

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. My mare is ________________ in color.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. kid — to tease
  4. mark — a grade
  5. stock — shares
  6. chest — of your body
  7. cold — not warm
  8. march — music
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. chest — of your body
  11. bore — to tire
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. bay — a horse colour
  14. chest — a box
  15. kid — child
  16. mark — a trace
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bay — a part of the sea
  20. march — the month
  21. march — the month
  22. bore — to drill
  23. bay — to keep at bay
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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