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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: stock · content · wound · capital · face · degree · mouse · swing

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. wound — an injury
  3. content — happy
  4. stock — goods
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. face — part of the head
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. degree — from a university
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. face — to point toward
  12. degree — temperature
  13. stock — shares
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. swing — to play on
  16. capital — a city
  17. content — the amount
  18. swing — in golf
  19. wound — an injury
  20. swing — music
  21. mouse — for a computer
  22. face — to confront
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. capital — money

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