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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. swing — to play on
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. stock — goods
  5. swing — in golf
  6. cap — a lid
  7. swing — music
  8. stock — shares
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. hand — in cards
  12. cap — a hat
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. squash — to crush
  16. key — in music
  17. key — the most important part
  18. key — for a lock
  19. squash — the sport
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. hand — help
  22. bat — the animal
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. straw — dry grass

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