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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 124 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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. sharp — clever
  3. stock — shares
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. pitch — completely
  7. chest — of your body
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. stock — goods
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. kid — to tease
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. kid — child
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. chest — of your body
  17. wake — a trail
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. game — wild animals
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. chest — a box
  24. game — a match

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