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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.

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: wake · bass · capital · perch · stock · plane · prune · cold

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. capital — a city
  4. capital — money
  5. prune — to trim
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. prune — to trim
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. bass — low music
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. stock — shares
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. plane — a tool
  17. wake — a trail
  18. bass — the fish
  19. stock — goods
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. cold — not warm
  22. perch — the fish
  23. cold — an illness
  24. perch — for a bird

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