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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 seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. stock — shares
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. chair — a leader
  6. capital — money
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. pitch — completely
  9. row — to paddle
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. land — to come down
  14. row — a line
  15. rash — a series
  16. stock — goods
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. capital — a city
  20. land — a country
  21. snap — to click
  22. rash — hasty
  23. land — ground
  24. pitch — a sports field

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