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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: wave · straw · present · march · net · press · stock · ground

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. net — after costs
  3. march — the month
  4. press — a publisher
  5. ground — crushed
  6. stock — shares
  7. ground — a position
  8. present — there
  9. march — the month
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. press — newspapers
  13. present — the time now
  14. net — for catching
  15. present — a gift
  16. press — to push
  17. march — music
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. net — in sport
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. ground — the earth
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. wave — with your hand

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