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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: pound · hand · rush · chest · bat · capital · stock · rash

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. hand — help
  4. rush — hurry
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. chest — of your body
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. hand — in cards
  11. capital — money
  12. capital — a city
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. rash — hasty
  16. bat — the animal
  17. stock — goods
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. rash — a series
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. stock — shares
  22. chest — a box
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. chest — of your body

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