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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: bore · face · stock · tube · cold · pass · court · spring

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. cold — not warm
  3. stock — goods
  4. pass — to spend time
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. face — to point toward
  7. bore — to tire
  8. spring — a coil
  9. cold — an illness
  10. stock — shares
  11. face — part of the head
  12. bore — to drill
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. pass — to succeed
  15. spring — the season
  16. spring — of water
  17. court — of a king
  18. court — for sport
  19. tube — a container
  20. court — of law
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. pass — a permit
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. tube — the underground

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