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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: staff · stock · hide · land · game · cold · capital · court

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. land — to come down
  3. staff — employees
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. court — of law
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. land — a country
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. cold — an illness
  11. staff — employees
  12. cold — not warm
  13. game — a match
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. staff — a stick
  16. stock — shares
  17. land — ground
  18. court — of a king
  19. stock — goods
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. capital — a city
  22. court — for sport
  23. game — wild animals
  24. hide — animal skin

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