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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: wake · game · chest · spell · mug · stock · wind · wound

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Where did you ________________ them?
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. spell — letters
  3. chest — a box
  4. wound — an injury
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. wake — a trail
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. wound — an injury
  10. spell — a short time
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. spell — magic
  13. wind — moving air
  14. mug — a cup
  15. stock — shares
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. mug — a face
  18. chest — of your body
  19. stock — goods
  20. game — a match
  21. game — wild animals
  22. mug — to rob
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. chest — of your body

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