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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 office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. hand — in cards
  3. clip — a video
  4. ground — crushed
  5. ground — the earth
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. row — a line
  8. face — to confront
  9. clip — for paper
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. club — for golf
  12. staff — a stick
  13. club — for dancing
  14. staff — employees
  15. ground — a position
  16. face — to point toward
  17. stock — shares
  18. hand — help
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. face — part of the head
  21. stock — goods
  22. clip — to cut
  23. row — to paddle
  24. club — a group

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