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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 120 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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. band — a ring
  3. rest — a break
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. stock — goods
  6. rest — what's left
  7. clip — a video
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — for paper
  11. kid — child
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. rest — what's left
  14. kid — to tease
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. band — a music group
  18. leaves — to go away

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