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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. stock — goods
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — of your body
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. file — a document
  7. land — ground
  8. file — a tool
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. snap — to click
  12. land — to come down
  13. land — a country
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. file — a line of people
  16. chair — a leader
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. stock — shares
  19. chest — a box
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. bat — the animal
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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