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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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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: field · capital · stock · pop · lean · spell · band · game

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. band — a ring
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. capital — money
  6. lean — to bend
  7. pop — to visit
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. pop — soda
  10. spell — a short time
  11. stock — shares
  12. spell — magic
  13. game — a match
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. field — for sport
  16. field — a subject
  17. stock — goods
  18. field — farmland
  19. game — wild animals
  20. band — a music group
  21. lean — thin
  22. pop — music
  23. capital — a city
  24. spell — letters

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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