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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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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: roll · kid · march · date · stock · club · straw · chest

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. kid — to tease
  3. chest — of your body
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. march — music
  6. chest — a box
  7. chest — of your body
  8. march — the month
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. roll — a list
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. date — the fruit
  15. club — for dancing
  16. march — the month
  17. roll — a cake
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. club — for golf
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. club — a group
  22. kid — child
  23. stock — shares
  24. straw — a straw man

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