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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. roll — a cake
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. stock — goods
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. stock — shares
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. chair — a leader
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. bat — the animal
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. roll — a list
  23. game — a match
  24. game — wild animals

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