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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: trunk · kick · stock · press · rule · capital · cold · nail

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. cold — not warm
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. press — to push
  7. nail — on a finger
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. kick — in football
  10. rule — a law
  11. capital — money
  12. press — newspapers
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. stock — goods
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — an illness
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. press — a publisher
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. rule — government
  23. stock — shares
  24. nail — for a hammer

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