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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.

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: mouse · season · wind · field · kid · charge · stock · spring

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. stock — shares
  3. season — in sport
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. spring — the season
  6. charge — electricity
  7. field — farmland
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. spring — a coil
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. field — for sport
  12. charge — a price
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. wind — moving air
  15. spring — of water
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. field — a subject
  18. charge — in control
  19. season — of the year
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. kid — child
  22. wind — moving air
  23. stock — goods
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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