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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 116 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. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — to attach or keep to
  2. march — the month
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. clip — a video
  6. cold — not warm
  7. stock — goods
  8. march — the month
  9. file — a document
  10. stock — shares
  11. march — music
  12. file — a line of people
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. hand — in cards
  17. hand — help
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. file — a tool
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. clip — to cut

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