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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 kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. stock — goods
  3. spring — the season
  4. stem — to come from
  5. bat — the animal
  6. spring — a coil
  7. stock — shares
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. spring — of water
  11. scale — in music
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. capital — a city
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. capital — money
  16. scale — size or range
  17. hand — in cards
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. rash — hasty
  20. hand — help
  21. rash — a series
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. bat — in an idiom

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