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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kick · stock · wind · stem · tear · saw

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. kick — in football
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. saw — the tool
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. tear — from crying
  8. wind — moving air
  9. tear — to rip
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. tear — from crying
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. stock — goods
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. saw — the tool
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. stem — to come from
  18. wind — moving air

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