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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. My mare is ________________ in color.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. clip — a video
  4. land — ground
  5. spell — magic
  6. shower — to wash
  7. cell — in biology
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. stock — goods
  10. kid — child
  11. shower — rain
  12. spell — a short time
  13. bay — a horse colour
  14. kid — to tease
  15. land — to come down
  16. cell — a phone
  17. bay — a part of the sea
  18. stock — shares
  19. bay — to keep at bay
  20. clip — to cut
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. land — a country
  23. clip — for paper
  24. stock — a soup base

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