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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. snap — to click
  3. spring — of water
  4. wind — moving air
  5. mine — for digging
  6. current — of water
  7. spring — the season
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. stock — goods
  10. scale — size or range
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. current — happening now
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. wind — moving air
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. stock — shares
  20. spring — a coil
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. scale — in music
  23. current — electric
  24. mine — belonging to me

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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