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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 116 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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. squash — to crush
  3. march — the month
  4. board — to get on
  5. land — ground
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. stock — goods
  8. snap — to click
  9. squash — the sport
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. march — music
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. shower — rain
  14. march — the month
  15. board — a committee
  16. land — a country
  17. land — to come down
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. shower — to wash
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. stock — a soup base

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