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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. snap — to click
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. rash — a series
  6. rash — hasty
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. stock — goods
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. rock — music
  15. stock — shares
  16. pitch — completely
  17. field — for sport
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. rock — a stone
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. field — farmland
  23. capital — money
  24. field — a subject

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