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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. clip — to cut
  3. kid — to tease
  4. stock — shares
  5. swing — in golf
  6. track — to keep track
  7. capital — a city
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. drill — army training
  10. capital — money
  11. clip — a video
  12. drill — a practice
  13. swing — music
  14. clip — for paper
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. drill — the tool
  17. kid — child
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. stock — goods
  20. track — a path
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. swing — to play on
  23. snap — to click
  24. track — a song

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