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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 120 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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. field — a subject
  4. capital — money
  5. stock — shares
  6. rule — government
  7. capital — a city
  8. spring — of water
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. hand — in cards
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. kick — in football
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. field — farmland
  17. bark — to shout
  18. spring — a coil
  19. hand — help
  20. stock — goods
  21. field — for sport
  22. rule — a law
  23. spring — the season
  24. rule — to rule out

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