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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: court · last · chest · pitcher · stem · hand · net · current

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. hand — help
  3. current — electric
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. court — of a king
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. net — in sport
  8. chest — of your body
  9. hand — in cards
  10. court — for sport
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. chest — a box
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. stem — to come from
  16. court — of law
  17. current — of water
  18. net — after costs
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. last — finally
  21. current — happening now
  22. net — for catching
  23. last — final
  24. chest — of your body

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