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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: bowl · cold · mine · stock · ball · capital · bank · snap

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. cold — an illness
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. bank — for money
  6. snap — to click
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. stock — goods
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. capital — money
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. mine — for digging
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. bank — for money
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. stock — shares
  21. ball — a dance
  22. bank — of a river
  23. ball — a great time
  24. capital — a city

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