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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 120 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 dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. spell — magic
  4. shower — rain
  5. shower — to wash
  6. cold — not warm
  7. kid — child
  8. spell — letters
  9. bat — the animal
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. stock — shares
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. court — for sport
  15. spell — a short time
  16. court — of a king
  17. cold — an illness
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. court — of law
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. kid — to tease
  24. racket — for tennis

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