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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 116 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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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: degree · capital · march · clip · pound · stock · rock · fine

  1. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  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. fine — a penalty
  2. rock — music
  3. rock — a stone
  4. march — the month
  5. degree — from a university
  6. march — the month
  7. clip — for paper
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. fine — high quality
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. pound — a weight
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. rock — to move gently
  14. degree — temperature
  15. clip — a video
  16. clip — to cut
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. capital — a city
  19. degree — an amount
  20. stock — goods
  21. fine — all right
  22. capital — money
  23. stock — shares
  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