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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. game — a match
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. stock — shares
  7. row — a line
  8. press — a publisher
  9. stock — goods
  10. fine — high quality
  11. clip — to cut
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — not warm
  14. clip — a video
  15. game — wild animals
  16. cold — an illness
  17. clip — for paper
  18. press — to push
  19. row — to paddle
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. press — newspapers
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. branch — a division

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