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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: race · clip · rule · cell · row · stock

  1. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. race — a contest
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. rule — a law
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. row — a line
  8. cell — in biology
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — for paper
  11. race — humankind
  12. stock — goods
  13. stock — shares
  14. row — to paddle
  15. clip — a video
  16. race — the arms race
  17. cell — a phone
  18. row — a quarrel

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