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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. I don't want to ________________ the boat.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. mine — for digging
  5. chest — a box
  6. pass — a permit
  7. pass — to spend time
  8. rock — music
  9. chest — of your body
  10. stock — goods
  11. swing — music
  12. chest — of your body
  13. swing — to play on
  14. clip — a video
  15. swing — in golf
  16. stock — shares
  17. rock — a stone
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. clip — for paper
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. capital — a city
  22. capital — money
  23. clip — to cut
  24. rock — to move gently

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