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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 120 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: clip · stock · shower · stick · rule · chest

  1. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — to attach or keep to
  2. shower — rain
  3. rule — a law
  4. clip — for paper
  5. chest — of your body
  6. stock — shares
  7. chest — a box
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. chest — of your body
  13. shower — to wash
  14. clip — a video
  15. clip — to cut
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. rule — government
  18. stock — goods

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