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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. squash — the sport
  3. clip — to cut
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. bear — the animal
  6. last — final
  7. wound — an injury
  8. clip — a video
  9. race — a contest
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. bear — the animal
  12. swing — music
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. squash — to crush
  15. clip — for paper
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. race — the arms race
  18. stock — goods
  19. race — humankind
  20. swing — to play on
  21. swing — in golf
  22. last — finally
  23. stock — shares
  24. wound — an injury

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