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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: fan · land · capital · mine · stock · rest · lie · shower

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. mine — for digging
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. shower — to wash
  7. stock — shares
  8. shower — rain
  9. rest — a break
  10. land — a country
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. land — ground
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. rest — what's left
  17. lie — to recline
  18. rest — what's left
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. stock — goods
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. land — to come down
  23. capital — money
  24. capital — a city

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