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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. stock — shares
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — to rip
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. rash — hasty
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. cell — in biology
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. chair — a leader
  15. stock — goods
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. kid — child
  20. cell — a phone
  21. rash — a series
  22. bat — the animal
  23. tear — from crying
  24. bowl — to roll

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