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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: fan · cold · bass · face · capital · stock · wax · degree

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. stock — goods
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — an illness
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. capital — a city
  7. bass — the fish
  8. face — to confront
  9. degree — from a university
  10. face — to point toward
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. degree — temperature
  15. degree — an amount
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. capital — money
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. stock — shares
  21. face — part of the head
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. wax — to grow
  24. capital — a big letter

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