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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kid · charge · vault · stock · race · clip

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. The tickets are free of ________________.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. stock — goods
  3. charge — a price
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. kid — child
  6. clip — to cut
  7. charge — electricity
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. charge — in control
  10. clip — a video
  11. stock — shares
  12. clip — for paper
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. race — humankind
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. vault — a safe
  17. race — a contest
  18. race — the arms race

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