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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. stock — shares
  3. game — wild animals
  4. ball — a great time
  5. spring — of water
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — in cards
  8. net — for catching
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. net — after costs
  11. pop — soda
  12. stock — goods
  13. spring — the season
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. game — a match
  16. fork — in a road
  17. pop — music
  18. ball — a dance
  19. spring — a coil
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. net — in sport
  24. fork — a garden tool

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