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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. march — the month
  3. ground — crushed
  4. band — a ring
  5. staff — a stick
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. staff — employees
  8. clip — a video
  9. ground — the earth
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. stock — goods
  12. cell — a phone
  13. clip — to cut
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. staff — employees
  16. march — music
  17. ground — a position
  18. band — a music group
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. clip — for paper
  21. cell — in biology
  22. saw — the tool
  23. saw — the tool
  24. march — the month

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