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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 supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. clip — to cut
  5. shower — to wash
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. stock — shares
  8. pop — music
  9. club — for golf
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. saw — the tool
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. shower — rain
  15. stem — to come from
  16. clip — a video
  17. saw — the tool
  18. club — for dancing
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. pop — to visit
  21. club — a group
  22. cold — an illness
  23. pop — soda
  24. clip — for paper

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