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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. hand — help
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. ground — a position
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. capital — money
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. hand — in cards
  11. degree — an amount
  12. wound — an injury
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. stock — shares
  15. degree — temperature
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. capital — a city
  18. ground — the earth
  19. stock — goods
  20. wound — an injury
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. degree — from a university
  24. hide — to keep secret

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