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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: swing · game · clip · sharp · fall · stock · rash · tear

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. fall — to drop
  3. stock — goods
  4. swing — music
  5. stock — shares
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. game — a match
  8. rash — hasty
  9. clip — to cut
  10. fall — the season
  11. sharp — clever
  12. tear — from crying
  13. tear — from crying
  14. swing — to play on
  15. tear — to rip
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. rash — a series
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. fall — to drop
  21. clip — a video
  22. game — wild animals
  23. swing — in golf
  24. clip — for paper

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