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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: club · ground · wind · stock · date · cell

  1. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. wind — moving air
  3. cell — a phone
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. stock — goods
  6. ground — crushed
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. ground — a position
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. stock — shares
  11. club — for dancing
  12. wind — moving air
  13. club — for golf
  14. ground — the earth
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. cell — in biology
  17. club — a group
  18. wind — to turn a key

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