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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 116 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: cold · lash · present · cell · wind · file · bound · stock

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. present — the time now
  4. present — there
  5. file — a document
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. stock — shares
  8. present — a gift
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. wind — moving air
  12. bound — obliged
  13. bound — certain
  14. file — a tool
  15. cold — an illness
  16. wind — moving air
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. stock — goods
  19. cell — in biology
  20. file — a line of people
  21. bound — tied together
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. cell — a phone
  24. cold — not warm

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