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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. ground — a position
  4. stock — shares
  5. chest — a box
  6. ground — the earth
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. ground — crushed
  10. spring — of water
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. club — for golf
  13. tube — the underground
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. chest — of your body
  16. stock — goods
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. spring — the season
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. club — a group
  22. club — for dancing
  23. chest — of your body
  24. spring — a coil

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