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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: land · cabinet · ground · stock · clip · last · season · cell

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. last — final
  3. last — to go on
  4. stock — goods
  5. cell — in biology
  6. season — of the year
  7. clip — to cut
  8. land — ground
  9. ground — crushed
  10. cabinet — a cupboard
  11. clip — a video
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. ground — the earth
  16. land — to come down
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. season — in sport
  19. last — finally
  20. stock — shares
  21. ground — a position
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. clip — for paper
  24. cell — a phone

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