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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. court — of a king
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. tube — the underground
  6. court — for sport
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. stock — shares
  9. stock — goods
  10. chest — of your body
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. board — a committee
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. court — of law
  15. chest — a box
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. tube — a container
  18. cold — not warm
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. bat — the animal
  21. wake — a trail
  22. board — to get on
  23. cold — an illness
  24. chest — of your body

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