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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. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — a measure
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. season — in sport
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. capital — money
  6. clip — to cut
  7. rash — a series
  8. capital — a city
  9. chest — of your body
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. chest — a box
  12. stock — goods
  13. shower — rain
  14. shower — to wash
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. season — of the year
  18. chest — of your body
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. clip — for paper
  22. clip — a video
  23. stock — shares
  24. rash — hasty

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