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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 your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. stock — shares
  3. stock — goods
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. file — a line of people
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. kick — in football
  9. tear — to rip
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. net — for catching
  12. tear — from crying
  13. net — after costs
  14. file — a tool
  15. net — in sport
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. pop — music
  18. tear — from crying
  19. pop — to visit
  20. game — wild animals
  21. file — a document
  22. pop — soda
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. game — a match

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