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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. The tickets are free of ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. scale — in music
  3. stock — goods
  4. clip — a video
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. row — to paddle
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. charge — in control
  9. clip — to cut
  10. ground — crushed
  11. kid — to tease
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. ground — a position
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. charge — a price
  16. sharp — clever
  17. clip — for paper
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. ground — the earth
  21. stock — shares
  22. row — a line
  23. scale — size or range
  24. kid — child

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