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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. band — a music group
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. stock — goods
  5. band — a ring
  6. file — a document
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. chip — to eat
  9. spring — a coil
  10. spring — the season
  11. dip — to sink
  12. file — a line of people
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. file — a tool
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. stock — shares
  18. chip — for betting
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. clip — to cut
  22. clip — for paper
  23. clip — a video
  24. chip — in a computer

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