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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 124 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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. hand — help
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. race — a contest
  5. bore — to drill
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. hand — in cards
  8. cold — an illness
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. wind — moving air
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. bore — to tire
  13. race — the arms race
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. clip — to cut
  17. wind — moving air
  18. stock — shares
  19. cold — not warm
  20. race — humankind
  21. clip — a video
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. stock — goods
  24. bowl — to roll

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