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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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Word bank
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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: mine · stock · straw · branch · spring · fork · bat · sharp

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. branch — a division
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. stock — shares
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. spring — a coil
  11. mine — for digging
  12. spring — the season
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. fork — in a road
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. stock — goods
  18. sharp — clever
  19. spring — of water
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bat — the animal
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. mine — an explosive

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