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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. net — for catching
  5. net — after costs
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. bear — the animal
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. stock — goods
  12. court — of law
  13. bear — the animal
  14. chip — for betting
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. stock — shares
  17. chip — to eat
  18. court — for sport
  19. content — the amount
  20. court — of a king
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. content — happy
  23. net — in sport
  24. content — videos and posts

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