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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 strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. chest — of your body
  3. land — ground
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. chest — of your body
  7. firm — a company
  8. chest — a box
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. file — a document
  12. file — a tool
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. stock — goods
  15. land — a country
  16. mine — for digging
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. stock — shares
  20. wind — moving air
  21. land — to come down
  22. firm — decided
  23. file — a line of people
  24. firm — steady

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