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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: season · capital · spring · mine · row · fall · branch · stock

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. capital — a city
  3. spring — the season
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. row — a line
  6. season — in sport
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. season — of the year
  9. row — to paddle
  10. spring — of water
  11. stock — shares
  12. fall — to drop
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. fall — the season
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. branch — a division
  17. stock — goods
  18. fall — to drop
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. spring — a coil
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. mine — for digging
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. branch — of a tree

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