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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. When will it ________________ you to start?
  15. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. suit — in cards
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. tear — to rip
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. stock — goods
  7. tear — from crying
  8. hand — in cards
  9. bat — the animal
  10. stock — shares
  11. tear — from crying
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. perch — the fish
  14. suit — to fit
  15. suit — clothes
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. bat — for baseball

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