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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 120 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: perch · stock · content · pop · rest · stem · last · wind

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. content — happy
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. stem — to come from
  5. stock — goods
  6. pop — music
  7. last — final
  8. stock — shares
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. perch — the fish
  11. wind — moving air
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. last — to go on
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. content — the amount
  17. pop — to visit
  18. wind — moving air
  19. pop — soda
  20. rest — what's left
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. rest — what's left
  23. rest — a break
  24. last — finally

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