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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: stock · spell · firm · cold · roll · season · rest · court

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. roll — a cake
  3. firm — a company
  4. court — of law
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. firm — decided
  7. spell — magic
  8. roll — a list
  9. spell — letters
  10. cold — an illness
  11. season — of the year
  12. court — of a king
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. rest — what's left
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. rest — a break
  17. stock — shares
  18. firm — steady
  19. stock — goods
  20. rest — what's left
  21. cold — not warm
  22. season — in sport
  23. court — for sport
  24. spell — a short time

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