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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: object · stock · cold · squash · ground · swing · game · roll

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. object — an aim
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. ground — a position
  6. object — a thing
  7. swing — to play on
  8. stock — shares
  9. stock — goods
  10. game — a match
  11. cold — an illness
  12. swing — in golf
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. roll — a list
  15. game — wild animals
  16. object — to protest
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. squash — the sport
  19. ground — the earth
  20. swing — music
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. squash — to crush
  24. roll — a cake

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