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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 116 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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. field — farmland
  3. court — for sport
  4. field — a subject
  5. tear — from crying
  6. capital — money
  7. race — humankind
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — a city
  10. tear — to rip
  11. field — for sport
  12. court — of law
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. game — a match
  16. tear — from crying
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. court — of a king
  19. race — the arms race
  20. race — a contest
  21. season — of the year
  22. season — in sport
  23. game — wild animals
  24. stock — shares

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