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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 · field · ball · stock · rash · lash · capital · mine

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. rash — a series
  3. field — a subject
  4. field — farmland
  5. capital — money
  6. mine — for digging
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. stock — shares
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. ball — a great time
  12. stock — goods
  13. capital — a city
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. clip — a video
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. ball — a dance
  20. clip — to cut
  21. clip — for paper
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. lash — to lash out
  24. field — for sport

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