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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. stock — shares
  3. stock — goods
  4. cold — not warm
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. staff — a stick
  7. staff — employees
  8. scale — in music
  9. staff — employees
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. branch — a division
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. cold — an illness
  15. scale — size or range
  16. present — a gift
  17. lash — a whip stroke
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. capital — money
  20. present — there
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. lash — to lash out
  24. present — the time now

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