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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: mine · stock · net · bore · root · cold · bat · present

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. net — in sport
  3. stock — goods
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. present — the time now
  6. present — there
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. mine — for digging
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. root — of a plant
  13. cold — an illness
  14. bore — to tire
  15. stock — shares
  16. present — a gift
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. root — of a word
  19. net — after costs
  20. root — the cause
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. bore — to drill
  23. cold — not warm
  24. net — for catching

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