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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. bass — low music
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. land — a country
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. shower — to wash
  10. wind — moving air
  11. bat — the animal
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. tube — a container
  14. land — to come down
  15. prune — to trim
  16. prune — to trim
  17. land — ground
  18. wind — moving air
  19. stock — goods
  20. tube — the underground
  21. shower — rain
  22. bass — the fish
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. tube — in a tire

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