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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: cold · stock · wake · temple · rule · march · fork · capital

  1. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — side of the head
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. cold — an illness
  5. rule — government
  6. rule — a law
  7. fork — in a road
  8. capital — a city
  9. stock — shares
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. march — the month
  14. wake — a trail
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. stock — goods
  20. capital — money
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. cold — not warm
  23. march — the month
  24. march — music

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