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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. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. hand — help
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. hand — in cards
  6. squash — the sport
  7. stock — goods
  8. degree — an amount
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. bound — certain
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. squash — to crush
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. wax — to grow
  20. degree — temperature
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. stock — shares
  23. degree — from a university
  24. bound — tied together

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