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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: wave · row · coach · bat · fall · stock · capital · clip

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. fall — the season
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. stock — goods
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. fall — to drop
  7. capital — a city
  8. row — a line
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. bat — the animal
  11. row — to paddle
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. capital — money
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. clip — to cut
  18. clip — for paper
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. fall — to drop
  21. stock — shares
  22. clip — a video
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. wave — with your hand

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