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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. capital — a city
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. spring — of water
  6. fine — all right
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. wind — moving air
  12. fine — high quality
  13. mark — a trace
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. spring — a coil
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. stock — goods
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. capital — money
  21. spring — the season
  22. wind — moving air
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. mark — a grade

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