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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. last — final
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. cap — of ice
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. cap — a hat
  7. stock — goods
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. last — to go on
  11. content — the amount
  12. prune — to trim
  13. content — happy
  14. wax — to grow
  15. race — the arms race
  16. row — a line
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. prune — to trim
  19. race — humankind
  20. race — a contest
  21. row — to paddle
  22. cap — a lid
  23. last — finally
  24. prune — the fruit

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