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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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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 · wind · bark · fan · snap · mine · content · stem

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. mine — for digging
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. content — the amount
  9. snap — to click
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. bark — to shout
  13. wind — moving air
  14. content — happy
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. wind — moving air
  18. court — for sport
  19. court — of law
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. stem — to come from

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