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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: season · stock · cold · firm · sharp · march · pitcher · kick

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. sharp — clever
  3. season — in sport
  4. march — music
  5. march — the month
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. stock — shares
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. firm — decided
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. firm — a company
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. stock — goods
  16. cold — an illness
  17. firm — steady
  18. march — the month
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. cold — not warm
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. kick — in football
  24. season — of the year

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