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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. clip — for paper
  3. stock — goods
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. clip — to cut
  6. staff — employees
  7. craft — boats
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. band — a ring
  11. stock — shares
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. staff — a stick
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. craft — a skill
  16. game — wild animals
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. game — a match
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. rash — a series
  21. clip — a video
  22. rash — hasty
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. band — a music group

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