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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. ground — the earth
  3. clip — a video
  4. court — of a king
  5. cell — in biology
  6. court — of law
  7. march — the month
  8. march — the month
  9. spring — of water
  10. stock — goods
  11. cell — a phone
  12. stock — shares
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. clip — for paper
  15. ground — a position
  16. clip — to cut
  17. court — for sport
  18. hand — in cards
  19. march — music
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. hand — help
  22. spring — the season
  23. spring — a coil
  24. stock — a soup base

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