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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  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. file — a tool
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. wound — an injury
  4. bass — low music
  5. stock — shares
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. bass — the fish
  9. shower — to wash
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. stock — goods
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. mine — for digging
  17. shower — rain
  18. file — a document
  19. file — a line of people
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. wound — an injury
  23. pound — a weight
  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