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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. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. row — to paddle
  7. deal — to handle
  8. row — a line
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. mine — for digging
  13. scale — size or range
  14. capital — money
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. capital — a city
  17. stock — shares
  18. scale — in music

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