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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: game · court · stock · row · mate · wind · spell · ground

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. court — of law
  5. row — to paddle
  6. spell — letters
  7. stock — goods
  8. mate — to breed
  9. spell — magic
  10. stock — shares
  11. court — for sport
  12. court — of a king
  13. wind — moving air
  14. ground — the earth
  15. mate — a partner
  16. ground — a position
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. mate — a friend
  19. game — a match
  20. row — a line
  21. ground — crushed
  22. spell — a short time
  23. game — wild animals
  24. row — a quarrel

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