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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. file — a tool
  5. capital — a city
  6. stock — shares
  7. bound — obliged
  8. pit — a hole
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. tear — from crying
  11. pit — in a race
  12. bound — tied together
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. bound — certain
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. stock — goods
  18. file — a document
  19. tear — to rip
  20. kick — in football
  21. chair — a leader
  22. tear — from crying
  23. file — a line of people
  24. capital — money

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