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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. stock — shares
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. saw — the tool
  12. clip — for paper
  13. tube — the underground
  14. clip — a video
  15. saw — the tool
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. tube — a container
  20. rush — hurry
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bat — the animal
  24. stock — a soup base

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