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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. rule — government
  3. row — a line
  4. race — a contest
  5. cell — a phone
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. clip — to cut
  10. row — to paddle
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. bound — obliged
  14. cell — in biology
  15. clip — for paper
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. clip — a video
  18. bound — tied together
  19. race — the arms race
  20. bound — certain
  21. rule — a law
  22. race — humankind
  23. stock — shares
  24. stock — goods

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