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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: club · rush · game · stock · rock · bark · capital · tube

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. game — a match
  3. game — wild animals
  4. club — for golf
  5. tube — the underground
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. capital — money
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. rock — a stone
  11. club — a group
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. stock — goods
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. bark — to shout
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. club — for dancing
  20. capital — a city
  21. tube — a container
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. stock — shares
  24. rock — music

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