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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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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. bound — obliged
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. fork — in a road
  8. cold — not warm
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. spring — the season
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. stock — goods
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. spring — a coil
  15. spring — of water
  16. bound — tied together
  17. clip — a video
  18. clip — to cut
  19. clip — for paper
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. cold — an illness
  22. bound — certain
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. stock — shares

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