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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. mate — to breed
  3. spring — a coil
  4. stock — shares
  5. row — a line
  6. dip — to sink
  7. bat — the animal
  8. spring — the season
  9. mate — a partner
  10. clip — a video
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. clip — for paper
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. clip — to cut
  16. spring — of water
  17. row — to paddle
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. cell — a phone
  20. stock — goods
  21. mate — a friend
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. dip — a sauce

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