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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 120 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: band · stock · tube · stand · content · cold · march · wave

  1. I can't ________________ this cold.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. stock — shares
  3. band — a ring
  4. stock — goods
  5. wave — of the sea
  6. tube — the underground
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. content — happy
  10. stand — on your feet
  11. cold — an illness
  12. march — music
  13. cold — not warm
  14. stand — for spectators
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. march — the month
  17. tube — a container
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. content — the amount
  23. march — the month
  24. band — a music group

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