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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. foot — a measure
  4. game — a match
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. stock — shares
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chest — of your body
  9. land — to come down
  10. foot — part of the body
  11. bore — to tire
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. chest — a box
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. chip — to eat
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. chip — for betting
  18. game — wild animals
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. land — a country
  21. stock — goods
  22. bore — to drill
  23. land — ground
  24. chip — in a computer

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