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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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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: present · stock · chair · capital · shower · stem · roll · nail

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. capital — a city
  3. capital — money
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. chair — a leader
  6. stock — shares
  7. roll — a cake
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. shower — rain
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. shower — to wash
  16. stock — goods
  17. stem — to come from
  18. present — a gift
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. roll — a list
  21. present — the time now
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. roll — on a roll

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