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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: row · plane · capital · ground · degree · mug · fall · stock

  1. Where did you ________________ them?
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — to rob
  2. stock — shares
  3. fall — the season
  4. ground — crushed
  5. ground — the earth
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. fall — to drop
  8. mug — a face
  9. ground — a position
  10. fall — to drop
  11. degree — temperature
  12. capital — a city
  13. degree — an amount
  14. row — to paddle
  15. degree — from a university
  16. plane — a tool
  17. mug — a cup
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. stock — goods
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. capital — money
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. row — a line

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