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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 120 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: stock · scale · face · rash · cell · pop · court · last

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. court — of a king
  3. pop — music
  4. face — part of the head
  5. last — finally
  6. last — final
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. rash — a series
  9. pop — to visit
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. court — for sport
  12. last — to go on
  13. face — to confront
  14. cell — a phone
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. scale — in music
  17. rash — hasty
  18. pop — soda
  19. court — of law
  20. scale — size or range
  21. cell — in biology
  22. stock — shares
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. stock — goods

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