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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 office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. staff — employees
  4. stock — shares
  5. rock — a stone
  6. field — a subject
  7. ball — a dance
  8. staff — a stick
  9. field — for sport
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. stock — goods
  13. rock — music
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. ball — a great time
  16. file — a document
  17. clip — to cut
  18. field — farmland
  19. bat — the animal
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. file — a tool
  22. clip — for paper
  23. file — a line of people
  24. clip — a video

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