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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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  19. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. wind — moving air
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. firm — decided
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. root — of a plant
  12. root — of a word
  13. stock — goods
  14. bat — the animal
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. root — the cause
  17. file — a document
  18. firm — steady
  19. firm — a company
  20. file — a line of people
  21. file — a tool
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. wind — moving air

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