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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: hide · wax · stock · capital · bass · land · chest · spring

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. bass — low music
  3. spring — the season
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. chest — of your body
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. stock — shares
  8. stock — goods
  9. capital — a city
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. chest — a box
  12. wax — to grow
  13. capital — money
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. bass — the fish
  18. spring — a coil
  19. land — ground
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. land — a country
  22. land — to come down
  23. chest — of your body
  24. hide — animal skin

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