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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: tear · deal · net · bat · pop · stock · game · land

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. net — in sport
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. stock — goods
  5. pop — soda
  6. pop — music
  7. tear — from crying
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. land — to come down
  10. land — ground
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. net — for catching
  14. tear — to rip
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. land — a country
  17. game — a match
  18. tear — from crying
  19. pop — to visit
  20. stock — shares
  21. bat — the animal
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. game — wild animals
  24. deal — to handle

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