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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. stand — for spectators
  4. root — the cause
  5. kid — child
  6. ball — a dance
  7. stock — goods
  8. chest — of your body
  9. stock — shares
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. stand — to bear
  12. chest — of your body
  13. root — of a word
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. capital — money
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. ball — a great time
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. capital — a city
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. chest — a box
  24. root — of a plant

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