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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 116 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: prune · stock · cold · board · row · face · kid · charge

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. The tickets are free of ________________.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. stock — shares
  3. charge — electricity
  4. row — to paddle
  5. stock — goods
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. kid — to tease
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. charge — a price
  10. row — a line
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. face — to confront
  14. charge — in control
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. board — a committee
  18. cold — not warm
  19. prune — to trim
  20. face — part of the head
  21. board — to get on
  22. face — to point toward
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. prune — to trim

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