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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. spring — of water
  3. pop — music
  4. ground — crushed
  5. chip — to eat
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. spring — the season
  8. bark — to shout
  9. stock — shares
  10. mate — a partner
  11. kid — to tease
  12. ground — a position
  13. pop — to visit
  14. spring — a coil
  15. mate — to breed
  16. pop — soda
  17. mate — a friend
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. chip — for betting
  20. stock — goods
  21. ground — the earth
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. kid — child

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