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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: mine · field · stock · rash · roll · arm · cold · bear

  1. We're on a ________________ here.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. roll — on a roll
  2. field — farmland
  3. stock — goods
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. roll — a cake
  9. field — for sport
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. roll — a list
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. field — a subject
  14. mine — for digging
  15. stock — shares
  16. bear — the animal
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. rash — a series
  20. bear — the animal
  21. cold — not warm
  22. rash — hasty
  23. cold — an illness
  24. stock — a soup base

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