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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: spell · land · wax · stock · mine · pitcher · root · content

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. stock — shares
  3. spell — letters
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. content — the amount
  7. land — to come down
  8. content — happy
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. spell — magic
  11. land — a country
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. mine — for digging
  14. root — of a plant
  15. root — the cause
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. land — ground
  18. stock — goods
  19. wax — to grow
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. root — of a word
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. spell — a short time

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