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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 120 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 party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. You can't go backstage without a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. mate — a partner
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. cell — a phone
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. pass — to succeed
  9. bat — the animal
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. stock — shares
  12. clip — for paper
  13. clip — to cut
  14. cell — in biology
  15. clip — a video
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. mate — to breed
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. stock — goods
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. rash — hasty
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. mate — a friend
  24. pass — a permit

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