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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: last · clip · stock · kick · mine · pop · scale · jam

  1. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. jam — to spread on bread
  4. clip — for paper
  5. last — final
  6. clip — to cut
  7. clip — a video
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. jam — a tight spot
  10. last — to go on
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. pop — to visit
  13. scale — size or range
  14. scale — in music
  15. last — finally
  16. stock — shares
  17. mine — for digging
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. pop — soda
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. jam — in traffic
  22. kick — in football
  23. stock — goods
  24. scale — for weighing

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