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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: cold · court · cap · last · track · stock · ground · season

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. track — a path
  3. track — to keep track
  4. court — of law
  5. stock — goods
  6. cap — a lid
  7. ground — a position
  8. last — to go on
  9. season — in sport
  10. track — a song
  11. court — of a king
  12. ground — crushed
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — not warm
  15. stock — shares
  16. ground — the earth
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. last — finally
  19. last — final
  20. cap — of ice
  21. cap — a hat
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. court — for sport
  24. cold — an illness

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