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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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Word bank
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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: chest · spring · clip · pitch · stock · mug · straw · staff

  1. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. mug — a cup
  3. chest — of your body
  4. mug — to rob
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. staff — employees
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. pitch — completely
  9. chest — of your body
  10. mug — a face
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. chest — a box
  13. clip — a video
  14. clip — to cut
  15. spring — the season
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. staff — a stick
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. spring — a coil
  20. clip — for paper
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. stock — goods
  23. stock — shares
  24. spring — of water

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