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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: ball · current · kid · chest · cold · stem · hand · stock

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. stock — goods
  3. hand — in cards
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. kid — child
  7. current — happening now
  8. kid — to tease
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. stock — shares
  11. chest — a box
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — an illness
  14. ball — a dance
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. stem — to come from
  17. chest — of your body
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. cold — not warm
  20. chest — of your body
  21. ball — a great time
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. current — of water
  24. current — electric

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