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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. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I assure you, everything's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. stock — shares
  3. tube — the underground
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. stock — goods
  7. row — to paddle
  8. tube — a container
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — for paper
  11. row — a line
  12. march — the month
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. march — music
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. clip — a video
  18. mouse — for a computer
  19. cold — an illness
  20. fine — high quality
  21. cold — not warm
  22. march — the month
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. fine — all right

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