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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 120 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: capital · tear · deal · stock · arm · wound · cell · land

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. wound — an injury
  4. deal — to handle
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. tear — from crying
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. cell — a phone
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. tear — from crying
  12. capital — money
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. wound — an injury
  15. tear — to rip
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. land — ground
  18. capital — a city
  19. cell — in biology
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. stock — goods
  22. land — a country
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. stock — shares

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