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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: kid · cold · last · stock · fork · bark · squash · fan

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. last — to go on
  3. squash — to crush
  4. kid — child
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. stock — goods
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bark — to shout
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. squash — the sport
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. last — finally
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. stock — shares
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. last — final
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. cold — an illness
  23. fork — in a road
  24. squash — the vegetable

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