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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 120 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: wax · chest · stock · pitcher · hand · wound · ball · shower

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. stock — goods
  3. ball — a great time
  4. chest — of your body
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wax — to grow
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. chest — a box
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. ball — a dance
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. shower — to wash
  14. hand — help
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. chest — of your body
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. stock — shares
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. wound — an injury
  22. hand — in cards
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. shower — rain

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