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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: chest · wind · date · ground · rash · spring · current · stock

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. stock — shares
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wind — moving air
  5. ground — the earth
  6. spring — of water
  7. rash — a series
  8. current — electric
  9. current — of water
  10. stock — goods
  11. date — the fruit
  12. rash — hasty
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. ground — crushed
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. spring — the season
  19. chest — of your body
  20. chest — of your body
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. current — happening now
  23. spring — a coil
  24. ground — a position

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