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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: leaves · stock · cold · cell · chest · key · spring · ground

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. chest — of your body
  3. stock — shares
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. spring — a coil
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cell — a phone
  8. key — the most important part
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. spring — of water
  11. chest — of your body
  12. ground — a position
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. cold — not warm
  15. stock — goods
  16. ground — crushed
  17. spring — the season
  18. cell — in biology
  19. key — in music
  20. key — for a lock
  21. cold — an illness
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. ground — the earth
  24. leaves — lets stay

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