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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. capital — a city
  3. stock — shares
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. ground — a position
  6. row — to paddle
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. ground — crushed
  9. craft — boats
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. pop — music
  12. row — a line
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. band — a music group
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. capital — money
  19. ground — the earth
  20. band — a ring
  21. craft — a skill
  22. pop — soda
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. stock — goods

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