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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 supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The tickets are free of ________________.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I don't want to ________________ the boat.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. cold — not warm
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. charge — electricity
  6. stock — shares
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. roll — a cake
  9. swing — music
  10. bat — the animal
  11. swing — to play on
  12. chest — of your body
  13. chest — a box
  14. chest — of your body
  15. charge — a price
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. roll — a list
  18. rock — a stone
  19. swing — in golf
  20. charge — in control
  21. rock — music
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — an illness
  24. rock — to move gently

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