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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: file · craft · stock · cold · spell · firm · march · court

  1. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. firm — steady
  3. craft — a skill
  4. stock — shares
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. spell — magic
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. march — music
  9. march — the month
  10. file — a tool
  11. court — of a king
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. stock — goods
  14. cold — an illness
  15. file — a document
  16. march — the month
  17. file — a line of people
  18. spell — a short time
  19. court — of law
  20. cold — not warm
  21. spell — letters
  22. firm — decided
  23. court — for sport
  24. craft — boats

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