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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 120 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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. cold — an illness
  3. game — a match
  4. stock — goods
  5. chip — to eat
  6. clip — to cut
  7. march — the month
  8. chip — for betting
  9. game — wild animals
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. stock — shares
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. fine — all right
  14. cold — not warm
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. fall — the season
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. fall — to drop
  19. fine — high quality
  20. fall — to drop
  21. march — music
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — for paper

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