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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: land · ground · stand · plane · mug · stock · cold · file

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Where did you ________________ them?
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. ground — a position
  3. file — a tool
  4. stock — goods
  5. ground — the earth
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. land — ground
  8. cold — not warm
  9. mug — to rob
  10. stand — to bear
  11. plane — a tool
  12. mug — a cup
  13. mug — a face
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. land — to come down
  16. ground — crushed
  17. stock — shares
  18. file — a document
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. land — a country
  24. file — a line of people

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