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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. stand — to bear
  4. kick — in football
  5. stock — goods
  6. clip — a video
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. track — to keep track
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. clip — to cut
  13. track — a path
  14. stand — for spectators
  15. bat — the animal
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. cold — an illness
  18. hand — help
  19. clip — for paper
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. track — a song
  23. stock — shares
  24. cold — not warm

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