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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 supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. clip — for paper
  3. can — a tin
  4. stock — shares
  5. game — wild animals
  6. can — a tin
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. file — a line of people
  9. mark — a trace
  10. present — the time now
  11. can — to be able to
  12. capital — a city
  13. mark — a grade
  14. clip — to cut
  15. file — a tool
  16. clip — a video
  17. present — a gift
  18. file — a document
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. present — there
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. capital — money
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. game — a match

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