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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: rest · kid · current · stem · content · court · mine · pound

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. kid — to tease
  4. kid — child
  5. rest — a break
  6. mine — for digging
  7. rest — what's left
  8. pound — a weight
  9. current — electric
  10. court — of a king
  11. stem — to come from
  12. current — of water
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. current — happening now
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. content — the amount
  17. rest — what's left
  18. court — of law
  19. content — happy
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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