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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. mate — to breed
  3. stock — shares
  4. mate — a friend
  5. stock — goods
  6. net — for catching
  7. chair — a leader
  8. land — to come down
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. land — ground
  11. net — after costs
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. net — in sport
  16. bark — to shout
  17. hand — in cards
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. mate — a partner
  21. shower — to wash
  22. hand — help
  23. land — a country
  24. shower — rain

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