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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. kid — to tease
  3. stock — shares
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. chest — of your body
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. kid — child
  9. club — for golf
  10. stock — goods
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. game — a match
  13. chest — a box
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. ruler — a monarch
  17. chest — of your body
  18. club — a group
  19. club — for dancing
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. game — wild animals
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. snap — to click

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