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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 116 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 supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. root — the cause
  3. hand — help
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. root — of a word
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — for paper
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. clip — a video
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. hand — in cards
  16. row — a line
  17. row — to paddle
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. chip — to eat
  20. root — of a plant
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. chip — for betting
  23. stock — shares
  24. chip — in a computer

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