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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. field — for sport
  3. row — a line
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. clip — a video
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. clip — to cut
  8. wound — an injury
  9. stock — shares
  10. field — farmland
  11. cap — a lid
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. cap — a hat
  15. row — to paddle
  16. clip — for paper
  17. wound — an injury
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. branch — a division
  21. stock — goods
  22. field — a subject
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. row — a quarrel

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