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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 116 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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. chip — to eat
  3. stock — shares
  4. clip — to cut
  5. cap — of ice
  6. chip — for betting
  7. clip — a video
  8. land — ground
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. row — a line
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. stock — goods
  13. bat — the animal
  14. cap — a hat
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. land — a country
  17. land — to come down
  18. track — to keep track
  19. clip — for paper
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. track — a path
  22. row — to paddle
  23. cap — a lid
  24. track — a song

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