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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. pound — a weight
  3. stock — shares
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. face — part of the head
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. net — for catching
  8. net — after costs
  9. wind — moving air
  10. net — in sport
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. wind — moving air
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. face — to point toward
  15. stock — goods
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. pound — to hit hard

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