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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. clip — a video
  4. march — the month
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. kid — child
  7. wind — moving air
  8. last — final
  9. current — happening now
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. clip — to cut
  13. current — electric
  14. stock — shares
  15. march — music
  16. kid — to tease
  17. last — to go on
  18. wind — moving air
  19. last — finally
  20. march — the month
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. stock — goods
  23. wax — to grow
  24. current — of water

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