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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: bat · mark · band · wake · content · staff · stock · straw

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. mark — a grade
  4. staff — a stick
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. bat — the animal
  7. staff — employees
  8. band — a music group
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. stock — goods
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. mark — a trace
  18. content — the amount
  19. content — happy
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. staff — employees
  22. band — a ring
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. wake — a trail

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