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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: nail · stock · bowl · arm · ball · cold · wind · content

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. content — happy
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. stock — goods
  12. stock — shares
  13. wind — moving air
  14. ball — a great time
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. content — the amount
  17. wind — moving air
  18. cold — an illness
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. ball — a dance
  22. cold — not warm
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. arm — a part of something

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