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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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. net — after costs
  4. capital — a city
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. clip — for paper
  7. branch — a division
  8. clip — a video
  9. stock — goods
  10. capital — money
  11. content — the amount
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. net — in sport
  15. rash — a series
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. content — happy
  21. clip — to cut
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. net — for catching
  24. rash — hasty

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