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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: bat · stock · chair · tube · mate · ground · present · date

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. mate — a partner
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. present — a gift
  6. ground — a position
  7. ground — the earth
  8. tube — the underground
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. mate — to breed
  12. mate — a friend
  13. stock — goods
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. present — the time now
  17. bat — the animal
  18. chair — a leader
  19. present — there
  20. ground — crushed
  21. tube — a container
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. date — the fruit
  24. stock — shares

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