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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. bat — the animal
  4. stock — shares
  5. last — to go on
  6. last — finally
  7. shower — to wash
  8. mine — for digging
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. capital — a city
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. capital — money
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. pitch — completely
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. last — final
  22. stock — goods
  23. shower — rain
  24. pitch — a sports field

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