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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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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: tear · arm · pop · hide · cold · field · stock · snap

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. field — a subject
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. field — for sport
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. tear — to rip
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. snap — to click
  11. stock — shares
  12. cold — not warm
  13. tear — from crying
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. stock — goods
  18. pop — soda
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. cold — an illness
  21. pop — to visit
  22. field — farmland
  23. pop — music
  24. tear — from crying

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