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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: stock · fall · pop · hand · wound · prune · object · clip

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. pop — to visit
  4. fall — to drop
  5. object — a thing
  6. object — an aim
  7. wound — an injury
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. stock — shares
  10. fall — the season
  11. clip — to cut
  12. pop — music
  13. hand — help
  14. pop — soda
  15. prune — to trim
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — for paper
  20. stock — goods
  21. hand — in cards
  22. fall — to drop
  23. wound — an injury
  24. prune — to trim

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