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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · scale · capital · stock · stand · march · spring · bulb

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. bulb — for light
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. capital — money
  5. bulb — for light
  6. stand — to bear
  7. stand — on your feet
  8. stock — goods
  9. scale — size or range
  10. clip — to cut
  11. scale — in music
  12. capital — a city
  13. march — the month
  14. spring — a coil
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. march — music
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. spring — of water
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. spring — the season
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. clip — a video
  23. march — the month
  24. clip — for paper

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