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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. ground — crushed
  3. tube — a container
  4. stock — shares
  5. ground — a position
  6. wind — moving air
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. content — the amount
  10. wind — moving air
  11. toast — bread
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. toast — the most admired
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. toast — a drink to someone
  16. capital — money
  17. ground — the earth
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. stock — goods
  20. content — happy
  21. perch — the fish
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. tube — the underground

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