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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. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. ball — a dance
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. wax — to grow
  6. stock — shares
  7. rock — music
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wind — moving air
  10. ball — a great time
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. spring — a coil
  14. pop — music
  15. row — a line
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. pop — soda
  18. pop — to visit
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. rock — a stone
  21. spring — of water
  22. row — to paddle
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. spring — the season

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