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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. stock — goods
  3. shower — rain
  4. shower — to wash
  5. last — finally
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. degree — temperature
  8. clip — a video
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. stock — shares
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. track — a path
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. degree — from a university
  15. wind — moving air
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. last — to go on
  18. clip — to cut
  19. track — a song
  20. lie — to recline
  21. last — final
  22. degree — an amount
  23. clip — for paper
  24. wind — moving air

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