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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. snap — to click
  3. wound — an injury
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. wound — an injury
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. pop — music
  11. capital — money
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. press — to push
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. pop — soda
  16. pop — to visit
  17. press — a publisher
  18. stock — shares
  19. band — a ring
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. press — newspapers
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. band — a music group
  24. capital — a city

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