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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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Word bank
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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. game — wild animals
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. key — the most important part
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. stock — goods
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. mine — for digging
  11. stock — shares
  12. craft — a skill
  13. key — in music
  14. season — in sport
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. clip — to cut
  17. craft — boats
  18. clip — for paper
  19. season — of the year
  20. clip — a video
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — an injury
  24. key — for a lock

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