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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: club · fall · bulb · stock · patient · sharp · spell · cold

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. The light ________________ burned out.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. cold — an illness
  3. fall — the season
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. fall — to drop
  6. spell — a short time
  7. cold — not warm
  8. spell — letters
  9. spell — magic
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. fall — to drop
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. sharp — clever
  14. stock — shares
  15. bulb — for light
  16. club — for dancing
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. club — a group
  21. bulb — for light
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. club — for golf

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