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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: capital · stem · stock · tear · date · wind

  1. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. tear — to rip
  4. stock — shares
  5. wind — moving air
  6. stem — to come from
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. capital — a city
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. stock — goods
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. tear — from crying
  14. date — the fruit
  15. tear — from crying
  16. capital — money
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. capital — a big letter

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