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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 124 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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. pop — music
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. cold — not warm
  5. pop — to visit
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. tear — from crying
  8. clip — to cut
  9. tear — from crying
  10. roll — a list
  11. stock — shares
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. cold — an illness
  14. tear — to rip
  15. wake — a trail
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. roll — a cake
  19. pop — soda
  20. stock — goods
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. clip — for paper
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. roll — on a roll

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