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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: stock · chair · game · mine · cold · bass · bound · squash

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. squash — to crush
  4. stock — shares
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. mine — for digging
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. game — a match
  9. stock — goods
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. bound — certain
  12. bass — the fish
  13. bound — tied together
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. chair — a leader
  17. bound — obliged
  18. cold — an illness
  19. squash — the sport
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. game — wild animals

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