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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 124 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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. saw — the tool
  4. perch — the fish
  5. clip — to cut
  6. hand — help
  7. clip — for paper
  8. saw — the tool
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. craft — a skill
  12. stock — shares
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. craft — boats
  16. bat — the animal
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. plane — a tool
  20. hand — in cards
  21. plane — in geometry
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. stock — goods
  24. clip — a video

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