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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 · tube · stock · cold · field · fan · foot · wound

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. foot — a measure
  3. wound — an injury
  4. stock — shares
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. field — a subject
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. foot — the bottom
  11. field — for sport
  12. wound — an injury
  13. tube — the underground
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. field — farmland
  16. staff — employees
  17. staff — a stick
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — an illness
  20. staff — employees
  21. stock — goods
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. tube — in a tire

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