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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. kid — to tease
  3. bore — to tire
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. ball — a great time
  7. rush — hurry
  8. file — a tool
  9. scale — size or range
  10. kid — child
  11. bore — to drill
  12. pop — soda
  13. pop — music
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. pop — to visit
  18. stock — goods
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. file — a line of people
  21. file — a document
  22. ball — a dance
  23. scale — in music
  24. scale — for weighing

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