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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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. cell — a phone
  6. cold — not warm
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. spring — of water
  9. chip — for betting
  10. stock — goods
  11. chip — to eat
  12. stand — to bear
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. spring — a coil
  16. cell — in biology
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. bat — the animal
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. spring — the season
  21. cold — an illness
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. stand — for spectators

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