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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: shower · stock · clip · wake · firm · march · current · racket

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  8. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. march — the month
  3. current — electric
  4. march — music
  5. stock — goods
  6. march — the month
  7. firm — decided
  8. firm — a company
  9. current — of water
  10. stock — shares
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. firm — steady
  13. wake — a trail
  14. current — happening now
  15. clip — a video
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. clip — for paper
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. clip — to cut
  24. racket — for tennis

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