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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. cell — a phone
  3. rock — music
  4. drill — the tool
  5. rock — a stone
  6. clip — a video
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. stock — goods
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. drill — a practice
  12. tube — a container
  13. cell — in biology
  14. clip — to cut
  15. scale — size or range
  16. tube — the underground
  17. clip — for paper
  18. drill — army training
  19. scale — in music
  20. rock — to move gently
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. wax — to grow

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