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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. When will it ________________ you to start?
  7. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. What do you think of the new ________________?
  20. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. stock — goods
  3. prune — to trim
  4. cold — an illness
  5. mine — for digging
  6. suit — to fit
  7. suit — in cards
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. net — for catching
  10. net — after costs
  11. stock — shares
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. suit — clothes
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. prune — to trim
  23. net — in sport
  24. mine — belonging to me

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