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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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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 · field · content · deal · branch · cold · band · spell

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. field — a subject
  3. spell — a short time
  4. spell — letters
  5. deal — to handle
  6. cold — not warm
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. band — a music group
  10. content — the amount
  11. spell — magic
  12. stock — shares
  13. content — happy
  14. branch — a division
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. band — a ring
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — for sport
  22. cold — an illness
  23. stock — goods
  24. branch — of a tree

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