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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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468
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 · tube · racket · kid · stock · wound · content · squash

  1. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. wound — an injury
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. stock — goods
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. bat — the animal
  7. tube — the underground
  8. content — happy
  9. tube — a container
  10. stock — shares
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. kid — child
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. squash — the sport
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. content — the amount
  19. squash — to crush
  20. kid — to tease
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. wound — an injury
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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