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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: clip · capital · board · face · stock · net · court · swing

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. court — of a king
  3. face — to point toward
  4. swing — in golf
  5. clip — to cut
  6. board — to get on
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. net — after costs
  9. board — a committee
  10. court — for sport
  11. net — for catching
  12. swing — music
  13. face — part of the head
  14. clip — for paper
  15. swing — to play on
  16. clip — a video
  17. court — of law
  18. stock — shares
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. net — in sport
  23. capital — money
  24. face — to confront

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