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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 116 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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. stock — goods
  4. root — of a word
  5. cap — a lid
  6. spring — the season
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. current — of water
  11. spring — a coil
  12. root — the cause
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. bat — the animal
  15. capital — money
  16. spring — of water
  17. cap — of ice
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. cap — a hat
  20. root — of a plant
  21. branch — a division
  22. current — electric
  23. current — happening now
  24. stock — shares

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