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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. stem — to come from
  3. game — wild animals
  4. saw — the tool
  5. stock — goods
  6. game — a match
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. chest — of your body
  9. chest — a box
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. sharp — clever
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. chest — of your body
  17. leaves — to go away
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. stock — shares
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. saw — the tool
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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