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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: hand · cold · leaves · file · net · scale · stock · capital

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. scale — in music
  3. capital — money
  4. hand — help
  5. net — for catching
  6. file — a line of people
  7. stock — goods
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — in cards
  10. stock — shares
  11. file — a document
  12. cold — an illness
  13. net — after costs
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. scale — size or range
  16. net — in sport
  17. file — a tool
  18. cold — not warm
  19. capital — a city
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. stock — a soup base

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