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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. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. spell — a short time
  3. clip — to cut
  4. spell — letters
  5. kid — to tease
  6. content — happy
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. object — to protest
  10. kid — child
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. clip — a video
  13. squash — to crush
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. object — an aim
  16. spell — magic
  17. squash — the sport
  18. stock — shares
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. mine — for digging
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. object — a thing
  23. content — the amount
  24. clip — for paper

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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