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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 ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. clip — to cut
  4. swing — music
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — from crying
  9. swing — to play on
  10. clip — for paper
  11. content — happy
  12. stem — to come from
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. tear — to rip
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. content — the amount
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. stock — goods
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. swing — in golf
  23. clip — a video
  24. hide — to keep secret

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