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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.

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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: bat · field · drill · sharp · perch · chest · bear · stock

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. bear — the animal
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. sharp — clever
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. drill — a practice
  9. drill — army training
  10. perch — the fish
  11. field — a subject
  12. drill — the tool
  13. stock — goods
  14. chest — of your body
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. field — for sport
  18. chest — a box
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. field — farmland
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. bear — the animal
  23. chest — of your body
  24. bat — the animal

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