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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: bowl · snap · swing · ground · date · land · field · stock

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. field — for sport
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. ground — crushed
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. land — a country
  7. ground — the earth
  8. stock — goods
  9. land — ground
  10. field — farmland
  11. field — a subject
  12. ground — a position
  13. date — the fruit
  14. snap — to click
  15. land — to come down
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. swing — to play on
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. swing — in golf
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. swing — music

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