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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. capital — money
  3. capital — a city
  4. clip — for paper
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. season — in sport
  7. rest — what's left
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. stock — shares
  10. object — an aim
  11. rest — what's left
  12. cell — in biology
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. drill — a practice
  16. clip — to cut
  17. cell — a phone
  18. drill — the tool
  19. object — a thing
  20. object — to protest
  21. drill — army training
  22. rest — a break
  23. clip — a video
  24. stock — goods

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