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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. stock — shares
  3. capital — a city
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. court — of law
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. squash — the sport
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. stock — goods
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. court — of a king
  13. court — for sport
  14. scale — size or range
  15. field — a subject
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. scale — in music
  20. field — for sport
  21. capital — money
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. field — farmland
  24. squash — to crush

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