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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. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. land — a country
  4. capital — money
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. file — a document
  7. land — ground
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. chip — to eat
  10. wax — to grow
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. chip — for betting
  13. rash — hasty
  14. stock — shares
  15. file — a tool
  16. stock — goods
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. capital — a city
  19. file — a line of people
  20. cell — a phone
  21. land — to come down
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. cell — in biology

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