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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. saw — the tool
  3. spell — magic
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. last — finally
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. clip — a video
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. branch — a division
  10. clip — to cut
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. last — final
  13. hand — in cards
  14. clip — for paper
  15. hand — help
  16. stock — goods
  17. kick — in football
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. stock — shares
  21. spell — a short time
  22. saw — the tool
  23. spell — letters
  24. branch — of a tree

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