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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.

Words on the sheet
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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 · kid · bat · land · spring · last · content · key

  1. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. key — for a lock
  2. spring — the season
  3. bat — the animal
  4. key — the most important part
  5. content — the amount
  6. spring — of water
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. last — to go on
  9. last — final
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. kid — child
  12. kid — to tease
  13. land — ground
  14. stock — goods
  15. last — finally
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. key — in music
  18. stock — shares
  19. spring — a coil
  20. land — a country
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. land — to come down
  23. content — happy
  24. content — videos and posts

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