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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: ground · capital · branch · bound · race · net · scale · fall

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  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. capital — a city
  2. fall — to drop
  3. ground — the earth
  4. ground — crushed
  5. race — a contest
  6. bound — obliged
  7. fall — to drop
  8. bound — certain
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. ground — a position
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. net — after costs
  14. scale — in music
  15. race — the arms race
  16. race — humankind
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. net — for catching
  19. fall — the season
  20. net — in sport
  21. scale — size or range
  22. branch — a division
  23. bound — tied together
  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