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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 120 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: temple · stock · mine · racket · capital · straw · chest · content

  1. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. When was this ________________ built?
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. capital — money
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. stock — goods
  8. chest — of your body
  9. stock — shares
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. content — the amount
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. mine — for digging
  15. content — happy
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. chest — a box
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. chest — of your body
  20. capital — a city
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. straw — dry grass

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