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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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  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 — shares
  2. current — of water
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. stem — to come from
  5. jam — a tight spot
  6. file — a tool
  7. stock — goods
  8. current — happening now
  9. clip — a video
  10. jam — to spread on bread
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — for paper
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. current — electric
  16. jam — in traffic
  17. pop — soda
  18. capital — a city
  19. file — a document
  20. pop — to visit
  21. pop — music
  22. stem — a stem cell
  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