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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. ground — the earth
  3. clip — to cut
  4. ground — crushed
  5. tear — to rip
  6. clip — for paper
  7. saw — the tool
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. stock — shares
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. ground — a position
  12. saw — the tool
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. clip — a video
  15. tear — from crying
  16. stock — goods
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. tear — from crying
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. hand — help
  24. hand — in cards

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