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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  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. staff — employees
  2. branch — a division
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. stock — shares
  6. chair — a leader
  7. band — a music group
  8. kick — in football
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. bat — the animal
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. staff — employees
  16. fork — in a road
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. band — a ring
  22. staff — a stick
  23. bat — for baseball
  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