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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: present · ground · spring · last · wound · rock · stock · scale

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. last — final
  4. wound — an injury
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. ground — crushed
  7. last — finally
  8. stock — goods
  9. scale — size or range
  10. spring — a coil
  11. ground — a position
  12. present — there
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. scale — in music
  15. present — the time now
  16. wound — an injury
  17. spring — of water
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. rock — a stone
  20. spring — the season
  21. rock — music
  22. present — a gift
  23. ground — the earth
  24. stock — shares

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