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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: march · cold · pit · present · spring · racket · stock · mine

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. pit — a hole
  4. stock — goods
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. spring — a coil
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. cold — not warm
  10. stock — shares
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. spring — of water
  13. march — the month
  14. mine — for digging
  15. present — the time now
  16. present — there
  17. spring — the season
  18. march — the month
  19. present — a gift
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. march — music
  22. cold — an illness
  23. pit — in a race
  24. cold — the Cold War

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