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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. stock — shares
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. file — a line of people
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. file — a tool
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. stock — goods
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. bat — the animal
  13. drill — army training
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. drill — the tool
  17. march — the month
  18. pitch — completely
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. drill — a practice
  21. file — a document
  22. march — music
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. march — the month

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