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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. spring — of water
  3. file — a tool
  4. stock — shares
  5. file — a document
  6. vault — in gymnastics
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. bound — tied together
  10. spring — a coil
  11. file — a line of people
  12. bound — certain
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bound — obliged
  16. season — of the year
  17. season — in sport
  18. vault — a safe
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. spring — the season
  21. rule — government
  22. rule — a law
  23. stock — goods
  24. bat — in an idiom

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