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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. file — a line of people
  3. bear — the animal
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. stock — shares
  8. file — a document
  9. row — a line
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. fork — in a road
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. wind — moving air
  21. file — a tool
  22. bat — the animal
  23. bear — the animal
  24. row — to paddle

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