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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: spring · date · hand · stock · bulb · field · bat · chair

  1. The light ________________ burned out.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. bulb — for light
  6. field — farmland
  7. chair — a leader
  8. date — the fruit
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. field — for sport
  11. spring — of water
  12. bat — the animal
  13. spring — a coil
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. spring — the season
  17. hand — in cards
  18. field — a subject
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. stock — shares
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. hand — help
  24. stock — goods

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