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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: chair · rule · clip · swing · stock · bark

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. swing — in golf
  3. rule — government
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. rule — a law
  6. stock — shares
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. clip — to cut
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. swing — music
  12. chair — a leader
  13. stock — goods
  14. clip — a video
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. swing — to play on
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. bark — to shout

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