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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. shower — rain
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. pass — a permit
  5. file — a line of people
  6. capital — money
  7. prune — to trim
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. prune — to trim
  12. stock — shares
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. capital — a city
  15. pass — to spend time
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. snap — to click
  18. file — a document
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. file — a tool
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. shower — to wash
  24. stock — goods

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