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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 kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. land — to come down
  4. spell — letters
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. spell — magic
  7. capital — money
  8. band — a ring
  9. stock — shares
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. degree — from a university
  12. present — the time now
  13. spell — a short time
  14. present — a gift
  15. scale — size or range
  16. land — a country
  17. degree — temperature
  18. band — a music group
  19. present — there
  20. scale — in music
  21. stock — goods
  22. land — ground
  23. degree — an amount
  24. capital — a big letter

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