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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: wound · pitcher · stock · pitch · band · stem · file · court

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. band — a music group
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. stem — to come from
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. stock — goods
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. stock — shares
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. court — for sport
  13. pitch — completely
  14. wound — an injury
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. court — of law
  17. file — a document
  18. file — a tool
  19. band — a ring
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. file — a line of people
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. wound — an injury

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