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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. swing — to play on
  6. chest — a box
  7. stock — goods
  8. swing — in golf
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chair — a leader
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. stem — to come from
  14. last — to go on
  15. chest — of your body
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. swing — music
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. last — finally
  21. shower — to wash
  22. last — final
  23. shower — rain
  24. stock — a soup base

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