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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
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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: cold · tear · season · stock · object · game · straw · land

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. tear — from crying
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. season — in sport
  5. object — to protest
  6. tear — from crying
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. land — to come down
  9. stock — shares
  10. cold — an illness
  11. game — wild animals
  12. cold — not warm
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. object — an aim
  16. stock — goods
  17. object — a thing
  18. season — of the year
  19. land — ground
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. land — a country
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. tear — to rip

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