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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: ground · bulb · cold · present · row · hand · toast · stock

  1. I've got to change the light ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. bulb — for light
  4. ground — crushed
  5. toast — bread
  6. row — a line
  7. present — the time now
  8. toast — the most admired
  9. ground — a position
  10. row — to paddle
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. hand — in cards
  13. toast — a drink to someone
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. ground — the earth
  16. cold — not warm
  17. stock — shares
  18. present — there
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. present — a gift
  21. stock — goods
  22. hand — help
  23. cold — an illness
  24. hand — part of the body

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