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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: pitcher · ground · net · stock · rest · file · land · face

  1. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. land — a country
  3. rest — a break
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. land — to come down
  6. rest — what's left
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. face — to point toward
  9. stock — shares
  10. land — ground
  11. ground — the earth
  12. net — after costs
  13. file — a tool
  14. ground — crushed
  15. stock — goods
  16. face — to confront
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. net — for catching
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. face — part of the head
  21. ground — a position
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a line of people
  24. net — in sport

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