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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: bat · foot · bore · cell · ground · stock · clip · march

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. foot — a measure
  3. stock — goods
  4. bore — to tire
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. ground — crushed
  7. clip — to cut
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. cell — a phone
  10. march — music
  11. bat — the animal
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. bore — to drill
  14. ground — the earth
  15. march — the month
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. ground — a position
  18. march — the month
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. stock — shares
  21. cell — in biology
  22. clip — a video
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. cell — in a prison

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