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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: court · jam · bulb · pop · cold · dip · stock · spring

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  12. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  13. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. pop — music
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. bulb — for light
  6. stock — shares
  7. court — of law
  8. spring — a coil
  9. dip — to sink
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. jam — in traffic
  12. jam — a tight spot
  13. jam — to spread on bread
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. stock — goods
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. pop — soda
  18. spring — the season
  19. cold — not warm
  20. pop — to visit
  21. court — of a king
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bulb — for light
  24. spring — of water

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