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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. stock — goods
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. face — part of the head
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. shower — to wash
  7. saw — the tool
  8. shower — rain
  9. present — there
  10. stem — to come from
  11. stock — shares
  12. face — to point toward
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. bat — the animal
  16. face — to confront
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. saw — the tool
  19. present — the time now
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. present — a gift
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. fine — high quality

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