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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. stock — goods
  3. shower — to wash
  4. stock — shares
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. capital — a city
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. bark — to shout
  12. shower — rain
  13. capital — money
  14. net — in sport
  15. field — farmland
  16. field — for sport
  17. land — to come down
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. branch — a division
  20. field — a subject
  21. land — ground
  22. land — a country
  23. net — for catching
  24. net — after costs

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