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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: capital · court · ground · current · date · stock · bat · lean

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. ground — crushed
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. current — electric
  6. capital — a city
  7. ground — a position
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. current — of water
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. stock — goods
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. court — of a king
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. lean — thin
  16. lean — to bend
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — the animal
  19. capital — money
  20. court — for sport
  21. ground — the earth
  22. current — happening now
  23. stock — shares
  24. date — the fruit

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