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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. clip — for paper
  5. clip — a video
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. stock — goods
  8. tear — from crying
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. game — a match
  11. tear — to rip
  12. file — a line of people
  13. game — wild animals
  14. clip — to cut
  15. file — a tool
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. content — the amount
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. tear — from crying
  21. stock — shares
  22. file — a document
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. content — happy

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