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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: coach · bat · squash · fall · stock · field · chest · plane

  1. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. chest — a box
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. stock — shares
  6. squash — the sport
  7. bat — the animal
  8. fall — to drop
  9. chest — of your body
  10. field — for sport
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. field — farmland
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. plane — a tool
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. fall — the season
  18. fall — to drop
  19. field — a subject
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. stock — goods
  24. stock — a soup base

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