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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. rest — what's left
  3. stock — shares
  4. spell — letters
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. bat — the animal
  7. clip — for paper
  8. stock — goods
  9. swing — in golf
  10. current — happening now
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. current — electric
  13. clip — a video
  14. clip — to cut
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. rest — a break
  17. spell — a short time
  18. rest — what's left
  19. swing — to play on
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. swing — music
  22. spell — magic
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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