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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: content · hand · bound · racket · net · wind · spell · stock

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. content — the amount
  4. spell — magic
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. net — in sport
  7. content — happy
  8. spell — a short time
  9. bound — obliged
  10. bound — certain
  11. stock — shares
  12. net — after costs
  13. bound — tied together
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. spell — letters
  16. stock — goods
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. hand — help
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. hand — in cards
  21. wind — moving air
  22. net — for catching
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. hand — part of the body

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