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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 116 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: court · key · net · cold · stock · sharp · fork · bulb

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. I've got to change the light ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. sharp — clever
  3. stock — goods
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. cold — an illness
  6. key — the most important part
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. bulb — for light
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. court — of law
  13. stock — shares
  14. key — for a lock
  15. cold — not warm
  16. net — for catching
  17. net — in sport
  18. net — after costs
  19. key — in music
  20. fork — in a road
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. court — of a king
  23. bulb — for light
  24. cold — the Cold War

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