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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 water is too ________________.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. stock — goods
  3. clip — for paper
  4. last — finally
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. game — wild animals
  7. bat — the animal
  8. stock — shares
  9. last — to go on
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cabinet — a cupboard
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. cold — an illness
  14. clip — to cut
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. clip — a video
  17. game — a match
  18. lie — to recline
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. last — final
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. lie — an untruth

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