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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. field — a subject
  3. pop — soda
  4. charge — in control
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. pop — music
  7. field — farmland
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. field — for sport
  11. wake — a trail
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. file — a tool
  14. pop — to visit
  15. file — a document
  16. file — a line of people
  17. mine — for digging
  18. branch — a division
  19. charge — electricity
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. stock — goods
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. charge — a price

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