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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 116 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: shower · cell · stock · hide · swing · court

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. shower — rain
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. shower — to wash
  7. stock — shares
  8. court — of law
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. cell — a phone
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. stock — goods
  14. swing — in golf
  15. cell — in biology
  16. court — for sport
  17. court — of a king
  18. swing — music

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