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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. spring — of water
  3. stock — goods
  4. wake — a trail
  5. file — a line of people
  6. file — a document
  7. field — a subject
  8. field — for sport
  9. march — the month
  10. file — a tool
  11. spring — the season
  12. track — a path
  13. march — music
  14. track — a song
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. field — farmland
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. march — the month
  20. stock — shares
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. spring — a coil
  23. track — to keep track
  24. capital — money

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