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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. stock — shares
  4. land — to come down
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. clip — to cut
  7. court — for sport
  8. land — a country
  9. vault — a safe
  10. kid — to tease
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. clip — for paper
  15. court — of a king
  16. stock — goods
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. court — of law
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. clip — a video
  21. row — to paddle
  22. kid — child
  23. land — ground
  24. stock — a soup base

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