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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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  21. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. foot — a measure
  4. chest — of your body
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. chest — a box
  9. wax — to grow
  10. object — to protest
  11. chest — of your body
  12. object — an aim
  13. mine — for digging
  14. can — a tin
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. stock — goods
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. game — a match
  20. can — a tin
  21. can — to be able to
  22. object — a thing
  23. game — wild animals
  24. foot — the bottom

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