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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 seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. stock — goods
  3. hand — help
  4. club — for golf
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. squash — the sport
  7. clip — for paper
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. club — a group
  10. pound — a weight
  11. branch — a division
  12. squash — to crush
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. hand — in cards
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. clip — a video
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. club — for dancing
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. fine — all right
  22. stock — shares
  23. fine — high quality
  24. pound — to hit hard

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