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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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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: bat · lean · wind · stock · pound · ball · kid · temple

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. ball — a dance
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. ball — a great time
  5. lean — thin
  6. lean — to bend
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. wind — moving air
  9. stock — shares
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. stock — goods
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. kid — to tease
  15. pound — a weight
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. kid — child
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. bat — the animal

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