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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: cold · spring · stand · stock · track · bat · content · ground

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. ground — the earth
  3. track — a path
  4. cold — not warm
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. spring — of water
  7. spring — a coil
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. stock — goods
  11. cold — an illness
  12. stock — shares
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. stand — to bear
  15. track — a song
  16. bat — the animal
  17. ground — crushed
  18. content — happy
  19. content — the amount
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. ground — a position
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. spring — the season
  24. track — to keep track

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