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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. stock — goods
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. squash — the sport
  5. last — to go on
  6. court — for sport
  7. last — final
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. game — wild animals
  11. court — of law
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. squash — to crush
  14. stock — shares
  15. bound — tied together
  16. bound — certain
  17. bat — the animal
  18. bound — obliged
  19. court — of a king
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. mark — a trace
  22. mark — a grade
  23. bat — for baseball
  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