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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. stock — goods
  3. clip — for paper
  4. clip — a video
  5. cold — an illness
  6. chair — a leader
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. cold — not warm
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. deal — a big deal
  11. cap — of ice
  12. cap — a hat
  13. clip — to cut
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. cap — a lid
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. capital — money
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. capital — a city
  21. roll — a list
  22. deal — to handle
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. roll — a cake

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