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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. club — for dancing
  3. kid — to tease
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. clip — for paper
  6. club — for golf
  7. club — a group
  8. deal — to handle
  9. stock — shares
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. kid — child
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. clip — a video
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. clip — to cut
  19. stock — goods
  20. wind — moving air
  21. hand — help
  22. kick — in football
  23. hand — in cards
  24. deal — a big deal

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