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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: season · patient · bat · hide · ball · march · stock · kid

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. ball — a dance
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. march — the month
  5. kid — child
  6. season — of the year
  7. ball — a great time
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. season — in sport
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. march — the month
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. march — music
  23. stock — goods
  24. kid — to tease

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