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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: court · rush · cold · straw · march · sharp · stock · season

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. sharp — clever
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. season — of the year
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. court — of law
  9. stock — goods
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. march — the month
  12. court — for sport
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. court — of a king
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. march — music
  18. march — the month
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. rush — hurry
  21. season — in sport
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. cold — not warm
  24. stock — shares

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