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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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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 · track · cold · toast · row · arm · stock · rest

  1. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. rest — what's left
  5. toast — a drink to someone
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. capital — a city
  8. row — a line
  9. capital — money
  10. row — to paddle
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. toast — the most admired
  13. rest — a break
  14. stock — shares
  15. stock — goods
  16. cold — not warm
  17. track — to keep track
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. track — a song
  21. track — a path
  22. cold — an illness
  23. rest — what's left
  24. stock — a soup base

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