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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: bat · stem · ground · trunk · branch · clip · board · stock

  1. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. board — a committee
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. ground — crushed
  5. clip — a video
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. clip — for paper
  9. clip — to cut
  10. stem — to come from
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. bat — the animal
  13. ground — the earth
  14. stock — shares
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. branch — a division
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. stock — goods
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. board — to get on
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. ground — a position

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