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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
468
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: season · stock · press · field · cold · lie · snap · date

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. field — a subject
  5. press — to push
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. stock — shares
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. press — a publisher
  10. press — newspapers
  11. cold — not warm
  12. lie — to recline
  13. season — of the year
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. season — in sport
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. snap — to click
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — for sport
  22. date — the fruit
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cold — an illness

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