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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. clip — a video
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. stock — goods
  5. clip — for paper
  6. swing — to play on
  7. mark — a trace
  8. mark — a grade
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. cell — in biology
  11. cell — a phone
  12. swing — music
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. game — a match
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. kid — to tease
  17. clip — to cut
  18. swing — in golf
  19. game — wild animals
  20. wave — with your hand
  21. kid — child
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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