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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 supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. stock — goods
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. board — to get on
  5. board — a committee
  6. capital — money
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. wind — moving air
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — to rip
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. stock — shares
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. key — in music
  17. key — the most important part
  18. wind — moving air
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. tear — from crying
  22. key — for a lock
  23. fork — in a road
  24. fork — a garden tool

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