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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. staff — a stick
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. staff — employees
  5. object — a thing
  6. stock — goods
  7. stock — shares
  8. ball — a great time
  9. object — to protest
  10. clip — a video
  11. rest — what's left
  12. bat — the animal
  13. rest — a break
  14. clip — for paper
  15. object — an aim
  16. row — a line
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. rest — what's left
  19. row — to paddle
  20. ball — a dance
  21. clip — to cut
  22. staff — employees
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. ball — a round shape

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