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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. land — to come down
  4. spell — magic
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. stock — goods
  7. deal — a big deal
  8. spell — a short time
  9. kid — child
  10. stock — shares
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. land — a country
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. bat — the animal
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. deal — to handle
  18. kid — to tease
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. capital — a city
  21. land — ground
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. capital — money
  24. bat — in an idiom

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