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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: stand · wound · jam · pound · net · content · bat · fine

  1. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I can't ________________ this cold.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. fine — all right
  3. jam — in traffic
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. jam — to spread on bread
  6. content — happy
  7. stand — to bear
  8. content — the amount
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. jam — a tight spot
  11. net — for catching
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. wound — an injury
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. bat — the animal
  18. net — after costs
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. net — in sport
  21. wound — an injury
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. pound — a weight

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