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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: mine · stock · kid · spring · safe · pitch · bat · net

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. spring — a coil
  6. bat — the animal
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. safe — out of danger
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. safe — out of danger
  11. kid — child
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. net — in sport
  15. stock — shares
  16. spring — of water
  17. spring — the season
  18. safe — a strongbox
  19. pitch — completely
  20. mine — for digging
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. net — for catching
  23. kid — to tease
  24. net — after costs

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