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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: ground · content · rule · rash · chair · swing · spring · stock

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. stock — shares
  3. spring — of water
  4. ground — the earth
  5. spring — a coil
  6. ground — crushed
  7. rule — a law
  8. swing — in golf
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. swing — music
  11. rash — a series
  12. rule — government
  13. rash — hasty
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. swing — to play on
  16. stock — goods
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. content — happy
  19. content — the amount
  20. spring — the season
  21. ground — a position
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. rule — to rule out

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