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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: clip · stock · hand · bark · field · rule · craft · capital

  1. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. field — for sport
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. capital — money
  6. hand — help
  7. rule — a law
  8. field — a subject
  9. clip — to cut
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. clip — for paper
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. craft — boats
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. capital — a city
  16. stock — goods
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. rule — government
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. field — farmland
  21. bark — to shout
  22. craft — a skill
  23. clip — a video
  24. stock — shares

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