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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. stock — shares
  3. pop — soda
  4. march — the month
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. tube — the underground
  7. march — music
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. band — a ring
  10. stock — goods
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. capital — a city
  13. chip — to eat
  14. capital — money
  15. pop — to visit
  16. band — a music group
  17. mine — for digging
  18. chip — for betting
  19. pop — music
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. march — the month

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