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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 120 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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. stock — goods
  4. land — ground
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. ball — a great time
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. clip — to cut
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — from crying
  12. land — a country
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. plane — a tool
  15. wound — an injury
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. clip — for paper
  18. wound — an injury
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. tear — to rip
  21. clip — a video
  22. stock — shares
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. ball — a dance

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