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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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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: stem · bark · file · ground · race · capital · wind · scale

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. wind — moving air
  4. capital — a city
  5. bark — to shout
  6. ground — the earth
  7. race — a contest
  8. scale — size or range
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. capital — money
  13. stem — to come from
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. file — a line of people
  16. race — humankind
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. scale — in music
  20. file — a tool
  21. race — the arms race
  22. file — a document
  23. ground — a position
  24. ground — crushed

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