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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: toast · ground · wound · stock · file · bat · pitcher · capital

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. toast — a drink to someone
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wound — an injury
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. ground — the earth
  9. stock — goods
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. file — a line of people
  12. ground — a position
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. toast — bread
  15. file — a tool
  16. capital — a city
  17. ground — crushed
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. toast — the most admired
  20. stock — shares
  21. capital — money
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. bat — the animal
  24. file — a document

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