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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: vault · hand · chest · stock · content · staff · wound · court

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. court — for sport
  3. wound — an injury
  4. court — of a king
  5. vault — in gymnastics
  6. wound — an injury
  7. staff — employees
  8. hand — help
  9. hand — in cards
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. stock — goods
  12. vault — a safe
  13. stock — shares
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — a box
  19. staff — a stick
  20. chest — of your body
  21. staff — employees
  22. court — of law
  23. content — happy
  24. vault — an arched ceiling

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