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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. spring — a coil
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. row — to paddle
  5. wind — moving air
  6. stock — goods
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. wind — moving air
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. stock — shares
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. spring — the season
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. row — a line
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. spring — of water
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bark — to shout
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. pitch — completely

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