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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 120 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: bear · land · chair · fork · cold · shower · ruler · stock

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. shower — rain
  3. cold — not warm
  4. stock — shares
  5. chair — a leader
  6. bear — the animal
  7. bear — the animal
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. ruler — a monarch
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. cold — an illness
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. land — a country
  15. stock — goods
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. land — ground
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. shower — to wash
  22. fork — in a road
  23. land — to come down
  24. fork — to eat with

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