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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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. My mare is ________________ in color.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. wind — moving air
  3. stock — goods
  4. chair — a leader
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. row — a line
  7. row — to paddle
  8. field — for sport
  9. wind — moving air
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. bay — a horse colour
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. field — a subject
  14. clip — for paper
  15. clip — to cut
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. stock — shares
  19. bay — a part of the sea
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. clip — a video
  23. field — farmland
  24. kick — with a leg

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