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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: deal · kid · foot · stock · mine · game

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. stock — shares
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. kid — child
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. deal — to handle
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. kid — to tease
  13. game — a match
  14. mine — for digging
  15. foot — a measure
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. game — wild animals
  18. foot — the bottom

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