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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: stem · land · mate · game · scale · bat · tear · stock

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. land — a country
  5. stock — shares
  6. mate — a friend
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. stem — to come from
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — to rip
  12. game — a match
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. stock — goods
  16. land — ground
  17. mate — to breed
  18. land — to come down
  19. game — wild animals
  20. bat — the animal
  21. mate — a partner
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. scale — in music
  24. scale — size or range

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