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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: stock · root · capital · date · bulb · face · bark · saw

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. face — to point toward
  3. face — to confront
  4. capital — a city
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. bark — to shout
  8. saw — the tool
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. bulb — of a plant
  11. stock — shares
  12. saw — the tool
  13. stock — goods
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. bulb — for light
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. date — the fruit
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. root — of a plant
  20. bulb — for light
  21. capital — money
  22. face — part of the head
  23. root — of a word
  24. root — the cause

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