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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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. bulb — for light
  3. stock — goods
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. file — a tool
  6. bulb — for light
  7. last — final
  8. bass — the fish
  9. net — after costs
  10. bass — low music
  11. file — a line of people
  12. net — for catching
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. march — the month
  15. stock — shares
  16. march — music
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. rule — government
  19. file — a document
  20. last — finally
  21. march — the month
  22. last — to go on
  23. rule — a law
  24. rule — to rule out

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