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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. land — a country
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. stock — goods
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. jam — a tight spot
  9. field — for sport
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. jam — to spread on bread
  12. field — a subject
  13. clip — for paper
  14. file — a document
  15. field — farmland
  16. file — a line of people
  17. wake — a trail
  18. file — a tool
  19. jam — in traffic
  20. land — to come down
  21. clip — to cut
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. clip — a video
  24. stock — shares

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