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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 116 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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. tube — the underground
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. wax — to grow
  8. season — of the year
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. mine — for digging
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. game — a match
  15. stock — shares
  16. degree — from a university
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. degree — an amount
  20. pitch — completely
  21. degree — temperature
  22. game — wild animals
  23. season — in sport
  24. tube — a container

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