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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: ground · kid · craft · stock · spell · cold · mate · season

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  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. spell — letters
  2. mate — a partner
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. season — of the year
  6. kid — child
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. mate — to breed
  9. ground — crushed
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. craft — boats
  12. ground — a position
  13. kid — to tease
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. season — in sport
  16. ground — the earth
  17. craft — a skill
  18. spell — magic
  19. cold — an illness
  20. spell — a short time
  21. cold — not warm
  22. stock — shares
  23. mate — a friend
  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