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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. When will it ________________ you to start?
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. stock — goods
  3. field — farmland
  4. field — a subject
  5. suit — to fit
  6. key — the most important part
  7. content — happy
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. clip — a video
  10. content — the amount
  11. wound — an injury
  12. suit — in cards
  13. key — for a lock
  14. suit — clothes
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. wound — an injury
  18. branch — a division
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. clip — for paper
  21. stock — shares
  22. key — in music
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. field — for sport

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