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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. fall — the season
  3. rush — hurry
  4. ground — a position
  5. bass — low music
  6. clip — for paper
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. stock — shares
  9. clip — to cut
  10. fall — to drop
  11. capital — money
  12. clip — a video
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. fall — to drop
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. ground — the earth
  18. ground — crushed
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. bass — the fish
  22. capital — a city
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. racket — a loud noise

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