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

Word bank: tear · wind · pound · court · stock · chest

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. wind — moving air
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. court — of law
  5. tear — from crying
  6. chest — a box
  7. tear — to rip
  8. court — for sport
  9. tear — from crying
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. stock — goods
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. court — of a king
  14. chest — of your body
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. stock — shares
  17. chest — of your body
  18. pound — a weight

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