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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. object — a thing
  3. ball — a dance
  4. wound — an injury
  5. pop — to visit
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. file — a tool
  8. object — an aim
  9. wound — an injury
  10. tear — from crying
  11. pop — soda
  12. tear — from crying
  13. pop — music
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. stock — shares
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. stem — to come from
  20. tear — to rip
  21. object — to protest
  22. file — a document
  23. stock — goods
  24. file — a line of people

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