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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 120 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: capital · content · perch · march · stock · mate · sharp · field

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. mate — a partner
  3. content — the amount
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — for sport
  7. capital — a city
  8. march — music
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. sharp — clever
  11. mate — a friend
  12. field — a subject
  13. march — the month
  14. march — the month
  15. stock — goods
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. stock — shares
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. capital — money
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. mate — to breed
  24. content — happy

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