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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. mine — for digging
  4. land — to come down
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. land — ground
  7. land — a country
  8. stock — goods
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. dip — to sink
  11. bear — the animal
  12. bear — the animal
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. clip — for paper
  15. clip — to cut
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. cell — a phone
  18. stock — shares
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. clip — a video
  21. cell — in biology
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. bear — to put up with
  24. mine — an explosive

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