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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. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. land — a country
  5. last — final
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. stock — shares
  8. file — a line of people
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. file — a tool
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. mine — for digging
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. deal — to handle
  16. land — ground
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. land — to come down
  19. content — happy
  20. last — to go on
  21. content — the amount
  22. file — a document
  23. last — finally
  24. stock — goods

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