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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. net — after costs
  4. spell — letters
  5. mark — a grade
  6. clip — to cut
  7. stock — shares
  8. spell — a short time
  9. wax — to grow
  10. clip — for paper
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. ground — a position
  13. spell — magic
  14. ground — the earth
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. mark — a trace
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. clip — a video
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. wind — moving air
  21. net — in sport
  22. stock — goods
  23. wind — moving air
  24. net — for catching

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