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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: stock · game · spring · cell · toast · bat · bass · band

  1. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. spring — of water
  3. toast — the most admired
  4. bat — the animal
  5. spring — a coil
  6. toast — a drink to someone
  7. stock — shares
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. game — wild animals
  10. cell — a phone
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. band — a ring
  13. cell — in biology
  14. stock — goods
  15. toast — bread
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bass — the fish
  18. spring — the season
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. game — a match
  21. bass — low music
  22. band — a music group
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. band — a rubber band

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