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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 · kid · shower · rule · stock · pitcher · spring · track

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. track — a path
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. land — a country
  7. spring — the season
  8. track — a song
  9. track — to keep track
  10. spring — a coil
  11. land — to come down
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. spring — of water
  15. kid — to tease
  16. stock — shares
  17. rule — government
  18. rule — a law
  19. land — ground
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. stock — goods
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. kid — child
  24. shower — rain

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