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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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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: rest · stick · field · wind · race · kid · content · stock

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. rest — what's left
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. rest — a break
  5. race — a contest
  6. wind — moving air
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. content — the amount
  10. kid — to tease
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. kid — child
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. field — farmland
  16. rest — what's left
  17. wind — moving air
  18. stock — goods
  19. field — for sport
  20. race — the arms race
  21. race — humankind
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. content — happy
  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