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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 116 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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. wound — an injury
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. bass — low music
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. game — wild animals
  9. bass — the fish
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. stock — goods
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. game — a match
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. tear — from crying
  17. stock — shares
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. tear — to rip
  21. mark — a trace
  22. tear — from crying
  23. mark — a grade
  24. wound — an injury

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