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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · mine · wound · clip · rash · race · hide · rule

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. clip — for paper
  4. race — humankind
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. race — a contest
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. wound — an injury
  9. mine — for digging
  10. rash — a series
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. clip — a video
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. rash — hasty
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. rule — government
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. stock — shares
  19. clip — to cut
  20. wound — an injury
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. rule — a law
  23. stock — goods
  24. race — the arms race

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