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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: track · roll · cold · stock · land · capital · fine · court

  1. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. fine — all right
  3. track — a path
  4. cold — not warm
  5. land — a country
  6. land — to come down
  7. roll — a cake
  8. land — ground
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. capital — money
  11. court — for sport
  12. capital — a city
  13. court — of law
  14. cold — an illness
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. fine — high quality
  17. court — of a king
  18. roll — a list
  19. track — to keep track
  20. stock — goods
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. stock — shares
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. stock — a soup base

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