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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. net — in sport
  4. stock — shares
  5. clip — for paper
  6. swing — to play on
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — to rip
  9. sharp — clever
  10. net — for catching
  11. stock — goods
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. tear — from crying
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. rock — music
  16. clip — a video
  17. clip — to cut
  18. net — after costs
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. swing — music
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. rock — a stone
  24. swing — in golf

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