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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 120 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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. cap — of ice
  3. stock — goods
  4. cap — a lid
  5. court — of law
  6. court — for sport
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. stock — shares
  9. mine — for digging
  10. swing — to play on
  11. cap — a hat
  12. swing — in golf
  13. race — humankind
  14. swing — music
  15. race — a contest
  16. court — of a king
  17. clip — a video
  18. face — to point toward
  19. face — part of the head
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. clip — to cut
  22. race — the arms race
  23. clip — for paper
  24. face — to confront

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