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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. net — in sport
  3. clip — to cut
  4. clip — for paper
  5. object — an aim
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. stock — shares
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — farmland
  10. net — for catching
  11. object — a thing
  12. capital — money
  13. object — to protest
  14. stock — goods
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. capital — a city
  20. net — after costs
  21. clip — a video
  22. saw — the tool
  23. field — a subject
  24. trunk — of a car

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