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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. firm — a company
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. band — a ring
  7. roll — a cake
  8. stock — goods
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. fork — in a road
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. firm — steady
  15. roll — a list
  16. firm — decided
  17. band — a music group
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. content — happy
  21. bat — the animal
  22. content — the amount
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. content — videos and posts

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