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

Word bank: stock · bound · bark · firm · snap · bat · roll · capital

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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. bound — obliged
  4. bound — tied together
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. bark — to shout
  8. bat — the animal
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. capital — money
  11. roll — a cake
  12. snap — to click
  13. firm — a company
  14. stock — shares
  15. firm — decided
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. roll — a list
  19. firm — steady
  20. bound — certain
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. stock — goods
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bark — of a tree

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