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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 120 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 coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. stock — goods
  4. land — to come down
  5. hand — in cards
  6. ruler — a monarch
  7. stock — shares
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. net — in sport
  10. chip — to eat
  11. chip — for betting
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. swing — music
  15. swing — to play on
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. hand — help
  19. bat — the animal
  20. net — for catching
  21. net — after costs
  22. land — a country
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. land — ground

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