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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: spring · wound · land · stock · pitch · straw · pound · march

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. land — to come down
  3. land — a country
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. march — music
  7. spring — of water
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. stock — goods
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. pitch — completely
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. wound — an injury
  14. march — the month
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. spring — the season
  18. spring — a coil
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. march — the month
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. land — ground
  24. pound — a weight

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