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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. wind — moving air
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. hand — in cards
  5. pound — a weight
  6. stock — shares
  7. row — a line
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. hand — help
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. wind — moving air
  13. stock — goods
  14. cue — a signal
  15. cue — a hint
  16. kid — to tease
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. row — to paddle
  19. cue — for pool
  20. nail — on a finger
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. kid — child
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. wind — to turn a key

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