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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: fork · capital · squash · wax · cold · current · wind · stock

  1. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. cold — not warm
  3. stock — shares
  4. wax — to grow
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. capital — money
  7. squash — the sport
  8. current — happening now
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. stock — goods
  11. current — of water
  12. capital — a city
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. cold — an illness
  15. squash — to crush
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. current — electric
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. wind — moving air
  23. fork — in a road
  24. wind — moving air

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