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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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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: race · stock · march · ground · capital · spell · bear · game

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. spell — a short time
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. stock — goods
  5. game — wild animals
  6. game — a match
  7. spell — magic
  8. bear — the animal
  9. ground — crushed
  10. march — the month
  11. capital — a city
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. race — the arms race
  14. ground — a position
  15. capital — money
  16. march — music
  17. stock — shares
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. race — a contest
  20. race — humankind
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. bear — the animal
  23. ground — the earth
  24. march — the month

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