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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: chest · capital · rush · content · fan · court · stock · race

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. chest — of your body
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. capital — money
  7. race — a contest
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. capital — a city
  10. court — of law
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. content — the amount
  16. chest — of your body
  17. race — the arms race
  18. stock — goods
  19. chest — a box
  20. content — happy
  21. stock — shares
  22. court — of a king
  23. race — humankind
  24. court — for sport

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