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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. stock — goods
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. spell — magic
  5. clip — to cut
  6. spell — letters
  7. spell — a short time
  8. fork — in a road
  9. squash — the sport
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. stock — shares
  13. rash — a series
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. degree — from a university
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. degree — temperature
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. clip — for paper
  21. degree — an amount
  22. squash — to crush
  23. pitch — completely
  24. clip — a video

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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