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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: chest · bound · stock · row · bat · file · saw · bass

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. row — a line
  3. stock — goods
  4. file — a tool
  5. bass — low music
  6. chest — a box
  7. file — a line of people
  8. bass — the fish
  9. bound — certain
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. bound — tied together
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. saw — the tool
  15. bound — obliged
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. chest — of your body
  18. stock — shares
  19. row — to paddle
  20. file — a document
  21. chest — of your body
  22. saw — the tool
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. bat — in an idiom

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