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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. chest — a box
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. file — a tool
  5. stock — goods
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. chest — of your body
  8. rock — music
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. bat — the animal
  11. pitch — completely
  12. rock — a stone
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. file — a document
  15. roll — a list
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. land — to come down
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. rock — to move gently
  20. chest — of your body
  21. land — ground
  22. file — a line of people
  23. stock — shares
  24. roll — a cake

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