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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. kick — in football
  5. stock — goods
  6. bass — the fish
  7. clip — for paper
  8. row — a line
  9. hand — help
  10. row — to paddle
  11. bass — low music
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. hand — in cards
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. rash — a series
  16. fall — to drop
  17. rash — hasty
  18. clip — a video
  19. fall — to drop
  20. fall — the season
  21. stock — shares
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. kick — a thrill

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