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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. stock — goods
  5. sharp — clever
  6. clip — a video
  7. club — a group
  8. clip — for paper
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. bass — the fish
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. bass — low music
  13. club — for golf
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. club — for dancing
  18. stock — shares
  19. mark — a trace
  20. hand — in cards
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. mark — a grade
  23. clip — to cut
  24. sharp — exactly

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