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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. field — for sport
  3. clip — a video
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. capital — money
  7. capital — a city
  8. stock — goods
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. snap — to click
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. board — to get on
  13. field — a subject
  14. field — farmland
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. drill — army training
  17. perch — the fish
  18. drill — the tool
  19. board — a committee
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. clip — for paper
  22. stock — shares
  23. drill — a practice
  24. clip — to cut

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