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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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. When was this ________________ built?
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. chest — of your body
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. land — to come down
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. root — the cause
  8. pop — soda
  9. pop — music
  10. rash — hasty
  11. pop — to visit
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. cell — in biology
  14. land — ground
  15. chest — of your body
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. cell — a phone
  18. rash — a series
  19. root — of a plant
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. land — a country
  22. chest — a box
  23. root — of a word
  24. stock — goods

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