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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: court · bank · stock · capital · cold · spring · fork · wave

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  22. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. stock — goods
  3. spring — of water
  4. fork — in a road
  5. capital — a city
  6. stock — shares
  7. capital — money
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. bank — of a river
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. court — for sport
  14. court — of a king
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. cold — not warm
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. spring — a coil
  20. spring — the season
  21. bank — for money
  22. bank — for money
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. cold — an illness

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