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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 120 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: fall · court · bore · pop · field · wind · stock · bat

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. pop — soda
  3. stock — shares
  4. stock — goods
  5. bore — to tire
  6. fall — to drop
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. wind — moving air
  9. field — for sport
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. court — of law
  12. fall — the season
  13. wind — moving air
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. pop — to visit
  17. court — of a king
  18. court — for sport
  19. pop — music
  20. field — farmland
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. bat — the animal
  23. field — a subject
  24. bore — to drill

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