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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. stock — shares
  3. mate — a partner
  4. clip — a video
  5. wound — an injury
  6. mate — to breed
  7. file — a document
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. file — a line of people
  10. stock — goods
  11. swing — in golf
  12. wound — an injury
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. swing — music
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. swing — to play on
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. mate — a friend
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. clip — for paper
  21. file — a tool
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. clip — to cut
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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