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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: pit · ground · stock · straw · cell · game · lie · wind

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  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. stock — shares
  2. ground — crushed
  3. game — a match
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. wind — moving air
  6. lie — to recline
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. stock — goods
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. ground — a position
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. pit — a hole
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. game — wild animals
  19. ground — the earth
  20. cell — in biology
  21. wind — moving air
  22. cell — a phone
  23. pit — in a race
  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