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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: stock · shower · stem · lean · stick · ground · row · mine

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. stock — shares
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. shower — rain
  5. mine — for digging
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. lean — thin
  9. ground — crushed
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. lean — to bend
  14. stock — goods
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. shower — to wash
  17. stick — to attach or keep to
  18. ground — the earth
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. stem — to come from
  23. row — to paddle
  24. row — a line

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