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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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Word bank
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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: content · bulb · chair · field · clip · straw · spring · stock

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The light ________________ burned out.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. spring — of water
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. field — a subject
  6. field — farmland
  7. chair — a leader
  8. clip — for paper
  9. spring — a coil
  10. clip — a video
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. stock — goods
  14. content — the amount
  15. content — happy
  16. stock — shares
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. spring — the season
  19. field — for sport
  20. clip — to cut
  21. bulb — for light
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. bulb — for light

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