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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: wind · stock · rest · ball · ground · capital · land · club

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. stock — goods
  4. wind — moving air
  5. stock — shares
  6. club — for dancing
  7. ground — crushed
  8. land — to come down
  9. ground — the earth
  10. land — ground
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. rest — what's left
  13. ball — a dance
  14. club — a group
  15. capital — money
  16. club — for golf
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. wind — moving air
  19. land — a country
  20. rest — what's left
  21. ground — a position
  22. ball — a great time
  23. rest — a break
  24. wind — to turn a key

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