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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: bat · stock · fork · mark · clip · capital · stem · wind

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. clip — to cut
  7. capital — a city
  8. mark — a grade
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. mark — a trace
  11. bat — the animal
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. clip — a video
  15. stock — shares
  16. stock — goods
  17. clip — for paper
  18. stem — to come from
  19. mark — to pay attention
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. capital — money
  22. wind — moving air
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. fork — in a road

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