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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 120 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: stock · mug · hide · present · ground · tear · cold · sharp

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Where did you ________________ them?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — from crying
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. ground — a position
  6. mug — to rob
  7. cold — not warm
  8. sharp — clever
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. ground — the earth
  11. tear — to rip
  12. cold — an illness
  13. present — there
  14. ground — crushed
  15. mug — a cup
  16. present — a gift
  17. mug — a face
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. present — the time now
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. stock — goods
  24. cold — the Cold War

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