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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: court · chest · rule · spring · drill · stem · game · content

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. court — of law
  4. chest — of your body
  5. spring — the season
  6. content — happy
  7. game — wild animals
  8. drill — army training
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. spring — of water
  11. drill — a practice
  12. content — the amount
  13. court — for sport
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. rule — a law
  18. court — of a king
  19. stem — to come from
  20. spring — a coil
  21. rule — government
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. drill — the tool
  24. stem — of a plant

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