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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
468
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: cold · snap · tear · roll · object · game · stock · date

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. roll — a list
  3. game — a match
  4. snap — to click
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — an illness
  7. object — a thing
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. object — an aim
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — to rip
  16. tear — from crying
  17. object — to protest
  18. roll — a cake
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. stock — shares
  22. stock — goods
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. date — the fruit

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