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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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  4. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. firm — decided
  4. firm — steady
  5. saw — the tool
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. field — farmland
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. stock — goods
  10. current — electric
  11. wax — to grow
  12. field — for sport
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — not warm
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. stock — shares
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. field — a subject
  19. cold — an illness
  20. capital — money
  21. capital — a city
  22. firm — a company
  23. current — of water
  24. saw — the tool

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