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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. firm — a company
  3. game — a match
  4. wind — moving air
  5. stock — goods
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. clip — to cut
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. firm — steady
  10. hand — help
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. firm — decided
  13. clip — for paper
  14. mark — a trace
  15. stock — shares
  16. clip — a video
  17. game — wild animals
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. hand — in cards
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. wind — moving air
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. calf — of the leg
  24. mark — a grade

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