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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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Word bank
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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: game · last · face · fan · cold · stock · scale · root

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. stock — shares
  5. root — of a plant
  6. game — a match
  7. cold — an illness
  8. game — wild animals
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. cold — not warm
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. face — to point toward
  13. face — part of the head
  14. scale — in music
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. face — to confront
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. root — the cause
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. last — final
  21. root — of a word
  22. scale — size or range
  23. last — finally
  24. last — to go on

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