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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 · march · bark · bowl · lie · band · stock · press

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. cold — an illness
  3. march — the month
  4. press — newspapers
  5. bark — to shout
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. press — a publisher
  9. lie — to recline
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. march — music
  14. band — a ring
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. press — to push
  20. band — a music group
  21. stock — shares
  22. march — the month
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. stock — goods

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