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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 116 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 · fall · stock · bark · fork · mine · wind · degree

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. 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. wind — to turn a key
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. degree — an amount
  4. fall — the season
  5. clip — for paper
  6. fall — to drop
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. stock — shares
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wind — moving air
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. stock — goods
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. degree — temperature
  17. mine — for digging
  18. fall — to drop
  19. clip — a video
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. degree — from a university
  22. fork — in a road
  23. clip — to cut
  24. 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