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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: wound · stock · present · pop · field · clip · saw · chip

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. 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. present — a gift
  2. present — there
  3. wound — an injury
  4. field — for sport
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. saw — the tool
  7. present — the time now
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. pop — to visit
  10. clip — to cut
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. chip — to eat
  13. clip — a video
  14. wound — an injury
  15. chip — for betting
  16. field — farmland
  17. pop — soda
  18. pop — music
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. stock — shares
  21. clip — for paper
  22. saw — the tool
  23. field — a subject
  24. 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