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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.

Words on the sheet
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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 · leaves · drill · lie · game · cold · march · bat

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. leaves — lets stay
  3. stock — goods
  4. game — wild animals
  5. drill — the tool
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. cold — not warm
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. stock — shares
  10. march — the month
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cold — an illness
  13. march — the month
  14. drill — army training
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. drill — a practice
  19. bat — the animal
  20. lie — to recline
  21. game — a match
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. march — music
  24. leaves — to go away

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