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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. spell — magic
  3. stock — goods
  4. shower — rain
  5. mate — a friend
  6. bat — the animal
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. mate — a partner
  11. shower — to wash
  12. stock — shares
  13. spell — letters
  14. mate — to breed
  15. spell — a short time
  16. track — to keep track
  17. track — a song
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. track — a path
  20. file — a line of people
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a tool
  24. bat — for baseball

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