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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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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: bass · rest · cell · stock · kid · court · race · lean

  1. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. rest — a break
  3. race — a contest
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. lean — to bend
  7. bass — low music
  8. race — humankind
  9. kid — to tease
  10. court — of a king
  11. bass — the fish
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. stock — shares
  15. cell — a phone
  16. court — of law
  17. court — for sport
  18. race — the arms race
  19. lean — thin
  20. rest — what's left
  21. stock — goods
  22. rest — what's left
  23. kid — child
  24. cell — in biology

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