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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. stock — shares
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. cell — a phone
  9. dip — to sink
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. row — a line
  12. snap — to click
  13. row — to paddle
  14. capital — a city
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. wake — a trail
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. capital — money
  23. stock — goods
  24. cell — in biology

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