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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. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. rule — a law
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. clip — to cut
  7. clip — for paper
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. can — a tin
  10. clip — a video
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. stock — goods
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. cold — not warm
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. stock — shares
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. can — a tin
  21. rule — government
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. cold — an illness

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