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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  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. bowl — a dish
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. chest — of your body
  5. safe — a strongbox
  6. net — in sport
  7. stock — goods
  8. chest — of your body
  9. mine — for digging
  10. pop — to visit
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. pop — soda
  14. chest — a box
  15. net — for catching
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. bat — the animal
  18. pop — music
  19. net — after costs
  20. stock — shares
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. stock — a soup base
  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