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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: cabinet · bass · fine · capital · spring · game · stock · hand

  1. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. fine — a penalty
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. fine — all right
  4. hand — in cards
  5. cabinet — a cupboard
  6. bass — low music
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. stock — goods
  9. game — wild animals
  10. game — a match
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. fine — high quality
  13. stock — shares
  14. bass — the fish
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. spring — of water
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. capital — a city
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — a coil
  21. capital — money
  22. hand — help
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. stock — a soup base

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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