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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 120 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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. stock — goods
  3. march — music
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. clip — for paper
  6. stock — shares
  7. degree — from a university
  8. prune — to trim
  9. prune — to trim
  10. shower — to wash
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. clip — to cut
  14. capital — a city
  15. shower — rain
  16. degree — an amount
  17. capital — money
  18. degree — temperature
  19. clip — a video
  20. march — the month
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. bowl — a dish
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. bowl — a football final

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