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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. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. ground — a position
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. stock — shares
  6. season — of the year
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. mine — for digging
  9. clip — a video
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. craft — boats
  12. ground — crushed
  13. wound — an injury
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. ground — the earth
  17. clip — to cut
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. wound — an injury
  20. clip — for paper
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. bat — the animal
  23. season — in sport
  24. craft — a skill

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