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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: hand · shower · stand · row · pitch · stock · roll · court

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. I can't ________________ this cold.
  6. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. row — a line
  3. court — of a king
  4. roll — a cake
  5. stand — to bear
  6. stand — on your feet
  7. shower — to wash
  8. pitch — completely
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. stock — goods
  11. stock — shares
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. hand — in cards
  17. court — for sport
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. row — to paddle
  20. roll — a list
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. shower — rain
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. court — of law

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