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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: stock · chest · cell · rule · squash · capital · field · bulb

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. I've got to change the light ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. capital — a city
  3. field — farmland
  4. stock — shares
  5. capital — money
  6. bulb — for light
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. stock — goods
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. chest — of your body
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. cell — in biology
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. chest — of your body
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. cell — a phone
  17. squash — the sport
  18. bulb — for light
  19. field — for sport
  20. rule — a law
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. field — a subject
  23. rule — government
  24. squash — to crush

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