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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: shower · capital · net · bark · root · cue · stock · court

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. cue — a hint
  3. shower — rain
  4. root — of a word
  5. cue — for pool
  6. court — of a king
  7. net — after costs
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. cue — a signal
  11. net — in sport
  12. capital — a city
  13. root — of a plant
  14. shower — to wash
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. stock — goods
  17. net — for catching
  18. court — of law
  19. capital — money
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. stock — shares
  22. court — for sport
  23. root — the cause
  24. bark — to shout

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