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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. hand — in cards
  3. stock — shares
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. mine — for digging
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. bound — obliged
  9. bound — tied together
  10. hand — help
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. scale — in music
  13. clip — a video
  14. content — the amount
  15. content — happy
  16. clip — to cut
  17. scale — size or range
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. clip — for paper
  22. stock — goods
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. mine — an explosive

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