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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 120 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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. stock — shares
  3. row — to paddle
  4. wound — an injury
  5. file — a document
  6. row — a line
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. kid — child
  11. file — a line of people
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. wound — an injury
  17. present — there
  18. fork — in a road
  19. present — a gift
  20. file — a tool
  21. stock — goods
  22. present — the time now
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. kid — to tease

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