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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: wake · bound · fan · stock · court · chest · mine · rule

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. bound — obliged
  3. chest — of your body
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. chest — of your body
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. court — of a king
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. court — of law
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. court — for sport
  15. stock — goods
  16. stock — shares
  17. bound — certain
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. rule — a law
  20. wake — a trail
  21. rule — government
  22. chest — a box
  23. mine — for digging
  24. bound — tied together

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