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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. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. stock — shares
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. track — to keep track
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. clip — to cut
  7. spell — letters
  8. game — wild animals
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. spell — a short time
  11. craft — a skill
  12. face — part of the head
  13. game — a match
  14. track — a path
  15. clip — for paper
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. spell — magic
  18. face — to confront
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. clip — a video
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. craft — boats
  23. track — a song
  24. face — to point toward

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