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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. saw — the tool
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. last — final
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wound — an injury
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. hand — help
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. scale — in music
  13. last — finally
  14. scale — size or range
  15. fall — the season
  16. stock — shares
  17. last — to go on
  18. fall — to drop
  19. capital — a city
  20. saw — the tool
  21. stock — goods
  22. capital — money
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. fall — to drop

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