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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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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: pitch · land · cold · present · cell · wind · stock · toast

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. pitch — completely
  3. toast — bread
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wind — moving air
  7. present — the time now
  8. stock — shares
  9. land — ground
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. cell — in biology
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cell — a phone
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. wind — moving air
  16. land — to come down
  17. present — there
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. toast — the most admired
  20. land — a country
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. present — a gift
  24. toast — a drink to someone

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