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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 ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. file — a document
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. stock — goods
  7. snap — to click
  8. root — the cause
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. bark — to shout
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. wind — moving air
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. file — a tool
  17. stock — shares
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. root — of a plant
  22. file — a line of people
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. wind — moving air

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