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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: kid · stock · net · content · file · cue

  1. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. cue — a signal
  3. kid — child
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. net — in sport
  8. net — after costs
  9. stock — goods
  10. net — for catching
  11. file — a tool
  12. content — the amount
  13. stock — shares
  14. cue — for pool
  15. content — happy
  16. kid — to tease
  17. file — a document
  18. file — a line of people

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