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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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. press — to push
  3. hand — in cards
  4. clip — a video
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. row — a line
  8. track — to keep track
  9. track — a song
  10. stock — goods
  11. clip — to cut
  12. row — to paddle
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. press — a publisher
  15. clip — for paper
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. craft — a skill
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. stock — shares
  20. hand — help
  21. track — a path
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. press — newspapers
  24. hand — part of the body

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