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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 120 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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  23. My mare is ________________ in color.
  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. stock — a soup base
  2. wound — an injury
  3. field — for sport
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. stock — shares
  6. field — a subject
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. bay — to keep at bay
  9. wound — an injury
  10. last — to go on
  11. stock — goods
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. game — wild animals
  14. field — farmland
  15. game — a match
  16. last — final
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. bat — the animal
  19. last — finally
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. bay — a part of the sea
  23. bay — a horse colour
  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