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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. tube — a container
  3. spring — a coil
  4. land — a country
  5. chip — to eat
  6. land — ground
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. clip — to cut
  10. spring — of water
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. land — to come down
  13. tube — the underground
  14. wax — to grow
  15. row — to paddle
  16. clip — a video
  17. clip — for paper
  18. row — a line
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. spring — the season
  22. chip — for betting
  23. stock — goods
  24. stock — shares

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