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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. wound — an injury
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. root — of a plant
  5. wound — an injury
  6. root — of a word
  7. file — a document
  8. file — a line of people
  9. wax — to grow
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. file — a tool
  16. bark — to shout
  17. stem — to come from
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. root — the cause
  22. stock — goods
  23. mine — for digging
  24. bark — of a tree

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