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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. stock — goods
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. swing — music
  6. capital — money
  7. row — to paddle
  8. capital — a city
  9. shower — rain
  10. kick — in football
  11. swing — to play on
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. row — a line
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. spell — a short time
  16. wind — moving air
  17. shower — to wash
  18. wind — moving air
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. spell — magic
  21. kick — a thrill
  22. swing — in golf
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. spell — letters

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