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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 116 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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. clip — a video
  6. fine — high quality
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. shower — to wash
  10. fine — all right
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. clip — to cut
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. shower — rain
  16. capital — money
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. clip — for paper
  19. band — a music group
  20. capital — a city
  21. band — a ring
  22. stock — goods
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bat — for baseball

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