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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: clip · race · capital · prune · bass · cell · stock · toast

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. prune — to trim
  4. cell — a phone
  5. capital — a city
  6. cell — in biology
  7. prune — to trim
  8. capital — money
  9. stock — shares
  10. bass — low music
  11. clip — to cut
  12. toast — bread
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. toast — the most admired
  15. race — the arms race
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. race — humankind
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. stock — goods
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. clip — for paper
  23. clip — a video
  24. bass — the fish

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