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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: hand · bowl · stock · spring · bear · last · content · bat

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. content — the amount
  3. content — happy
  4. last — finally
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. spring — the season
  11. spring — a coil
  12. bear — the animal
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. hand — in cards
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bear — the animal
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. spring — of water
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. stock — goods
  21. bat — the animal
  22. last — to go on
  23. last — final
  24. stock — shares

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