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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
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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: toast · cold · stock · sharp · squash · wax · field · wind

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. squash — the sport
  4. field — farmland
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — not warm
  7. wax — to grow
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. squash — to crush
  10. toast — a drink to someone
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. field — for sport
  13. field — a subject
  14. toast — bread
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. wind — moving air
  17. toast — the most admired
  18. stock — shares
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. wind — moving air
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. sharp — clever

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