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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 ________________ went through the wall.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  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. nail — for a hammer
  2. stock — shares
  3. net — after costs
  4. press — a publisher
  5. net — in sport
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. press — to push
  11. content — happy
  12. net — for catching
  13. plane — a tool
  14. race — the arms race
  15. race — a contest
  16. race — humankind
  17. press — newspapers
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. content — the amount
  20. bat — the animal
  21. stock — goods
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. nail — on a finger
  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