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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: cold · toast · scale · ruler · stock · capital · bear · content

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  18. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. bear — the animal
  3. scale — size or range
  4. toast — the most admired
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — an illness
  7. stock — goods
  8. scale — in music
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. content — the amount
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. stock — shares
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. cold — not warm
  15. capital — money
  16. content — happy
  17. toast — bread
  18. ruler — a monarch
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. capital — a city
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. bear — the animal
  24. toast — a drink to someone

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