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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. When will it ________________ you to start?
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  17. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. clip — a video
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. ground — the earth
  6. suit — clothes
  7. clip — for paper
  8. ground — crushed
  9. cold — an illness
  10. suit — to fit
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. scale — size or range
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. cold — not warm
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. ruler — a monarch
  18. clip — to cut
  19. suit — in cards
  20. stock — goods
  21. scale — in music
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. ground — a position

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