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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: bound · wave · game · face · kid · bat · capital · stock

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. bound — certain
  3. bound — tied together
  4. capital — money
  5. capital — a city
  6. stock — goods
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. face — to point toward
  9. face — to confront
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. kid — to tease
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. game — a match
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bound — obliged
  18. kid — child
  19. face — part of the head
  20. bat — the animal
  21. game — wild animals
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. stock — shares
  24. wave — of the sea

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