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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: net · perch · wake · degree · stock · bark · pitcher · capital

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. net — in sport
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. wake — a trail
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. degree — from a university
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. capital — money
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. net — after costs
  14. degree — temperature
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. stock — goods
  18. perch — the fish
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. bark — to shout
  21. stock — shares
  22. net — for catching
  23. degree — an amount
  24. pitcher — a jug

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