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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. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. band — a music group
  3. band — a ring
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. kid — child
  6. current — of water
  7. kid — to tease
  8. row — to paddle
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. capital — money
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. stock — shares
  14. bass — the fish
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. row — a line
  17. current — happening now
  18. capital — a city
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. press — a publisher
  21. current — electric
  22. bass — low music
  23. press — newspapers
  24. press — to push

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