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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. clip — to cut
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. clip — for paper
  5. stock — goods
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. can — a tin
  9. ground — crushed
  10. stock — shares
  11. can — a tin
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. swing — music
  15. ground — a position
  16. can — to be able to
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. swing — to play on
  19. swing — in golf
  20. mine — for digging
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bat — the animal
  23. ground — the earth
  24. clip — a video

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