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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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. I've got to change the light ________________.
  19. The light ________________ burned out.
  20. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. race — humankind
  3. stock — shares
  4. stem — to come from
  5. mine — for digging
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. bat — the animal
  9. race — a contest
  10. club — for golf
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. saw — the tool
  13. club — a group
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. saw — the tool
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. bulb — for light
  19. bulb — for light
  20. club — for dancing
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. race — the arms race
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. mine — an explosive

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