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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: stock · cold · net · staff · prune · court · pound · content

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. cold — not warm
  3. content — the amount
  4. court — of law
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. court — for sport
  8. prune — to trim
  9. staff — a stick
  10. content — happy
  11. net — in sport
  12. staff — employees
  13. cold — an illness
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. stock — shares
  16. net — for catching
  17. pound — a weight
  18. court — of a king
  19. prune — to trim
  20. staff — employees
  21. net — after costs
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. stock — a soup base

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