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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 116 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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Word bank
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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. cell — a phone
  4. stock — goods
  5. race — the arms race
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. rash — hasty
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. cell — in biology
  10. race — a contest
  11. squash — the sport
  12. kid — child
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. squash — to crush
  20. kid — to tease
  21. chip — to eat
  22. race — humankind
  23. chip — for betting
  24. rash — a series

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