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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: bark · content · net · pop · game · kick · stock · court

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. content — happy
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. kick — in football
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. court — of law
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. game — wild animals
  10. pop — soda
  11. bark — to shout
  12. stock — shares
  13. net — for catching
  14. pop — to visit
  15. pop — music
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. game — a match
  20. content — the amount
  21. stock — goods
  22. net — in sport
  23. court — of a king
  24. net — after costs

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