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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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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: bear · stock · capital · arm · chip · bark · cold · stem

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. capital — a city
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. capital — money
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. bear — the animal
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. bark — to shout
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. chip — to eat
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — not warm
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. stock — shares
  17. stock — goods
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. bear — the animal
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bear — to put up with
  24. chip — for betting

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