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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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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: wind · capital · kid · cabinet · field · march · pound · stem

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. What do you think of the new ________________?
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. field — a subject
  4. pound — a weight
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. march — music
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. capital — money
  11. capital — a city
  12. kid — to tease
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. march — the month
  15. wind — moving air
  16. march — the month
  17. wind — moving air
  18. kid — child
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. field — for sport
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. field — farmland
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. pound — to hit hard

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