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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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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: race · bear · clip · cold · mark · field · capital · stock

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. stock — goods
  3. bear — the animal
  4. cold — not warm
  5. field — farmland
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. mark — a trace
  8. field — for sport
  9. mark — a grade
  10. field — a subject
  11. race — humankind
  12. clip — a video
  13. race — the arms race
  14. bear — the animal
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. race — a contest
  17. clip — for paper
  18. cold — an illness
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. stock — shares
  21. capital — money
  22. capital — a city
  23. mark — to pay attention
  24. clip — to cut

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