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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: court · hand · mine · wound · patient · march · stock · bat

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. stock — goods
  6. court — for sport
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. march — the month
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. march — music
  11. wound — an injury
  12. court — of law
  13. wound — an injury
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. mine — for digging
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. court — of a king
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. hand — in cards
  21. stock — shares
  22. hand — help
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. march — the month

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