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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: straw · cold · roll · stock · kid · season · trunk · press

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. kid — child
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. roll — a cake
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. press — to push
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. kid — to tease
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. stock — goods
  11. press — a publisher
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. press — newspapers
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. season — in sport
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. season — of the year
  23. roll — a list
  24. roll — on a roll

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