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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: hand · tear · firm · snap · stock · cold · saw · march

  1. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  18. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. hand — help
  3. march — the month
  4. firm — a company
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. saw — the tool
  8. snap — to click
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. cold — not warm
  11. stock — shares
  12. tear — from crying
  13. cold — an illness
  14. stock — goods
  15. saw — the tool
  16. tear — to rip
  17. firm — decided
  18. firm — steady
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. march — the month
  21. tear — from crying
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. march — music
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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