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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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. clip — a video
  4. clip — for paper
  5. face — part of the head
  6. clip — to cut
  7. stock — goods
  8. prune — to trim
  9. net — after costs
  10. face — to confront
  11. net — in sport
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. stock — shares
  14. roll — a cake
  15. capital — a city
  16. prune — to trim
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. tube — the underground
  19. tube — a container
  20. roll — a list
  21. face — to point toward
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. capital — money
  24. net — for catching

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