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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. clip — for paper
  3. spring — the season
  4. wound — an injury
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. tube — a container
  8. spring — of water
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. stock — goods
  14. stock — shares
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. clip — to cut
  17. capital — a city
  18. bat — the animal
  19. capital — money
  20. clip — a video
  21. tube — the underground
  22. kick — in football
  23. spring — a coil
  24. kick — a thrill

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