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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 116 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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. field — farmland
  3. hand — help
  4. saw — the tool
  5. fall — the season
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. prune — to trim
  11. field — for sport
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. hand — in cards
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. saw — the tool
  16. fall — to drop
  17. field — a subject
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. stock — goods
  20. staff — a stick
  21. staff — employees
  22. fall — to drop
  23. prune — to trim
  24. staff — employees

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