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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 supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. bass — the fish
  3. shower — to wash
  4. stock — shares
  5. spring — the season
  6. drill — the tool
  7. band — a music group
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. last — final
  11. band — a ring
  12. drill — a practice
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. bass — low music
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. last — finally
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. kick — in football
  19. shower — rain
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. spring — a coil
  22. drill — army training
  23. last — to go on
  24. spring — of water

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