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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Where did you ________________ them?
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. game — wild animals
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. tear — from crying
  6. wax — to grow
  7. date — the fruit
  8. tear — from crying
  9. mug — to rob
  10. tear — to rip
  11. stock — goods
  12. stock — shares
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. game — a match
  15. stem — to come from
  16. mug — a cup
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. capital — a city
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. mug — a face
  23. capital — money
  24. stem — a stem cell

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