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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 train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. tube — a container
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. game — wild animals
  8. stock — goods
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. chest — of your body
  11. stock — shares
  12. bat — the animal
  13. tube — the underground
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. chest — a box
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. mine — for digging
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. snap — to click
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. game — a match

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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