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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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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: pound · stock · bay · tear · file · squash · clip · stem

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. My mare is ________________ in color.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. clip — to cut
  7. pound — a weight
  8. squash — the sport
  9. clip — a video
  10. bay — a horse colour
  11. file — a tool
  12. tear — from crying
  13. tear — to rip
  14. stem — to come from
  15. file — a document
  16. stock — goods
  17. squash — to crush
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. bay — a part of the sea
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. tear — from crying
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. stock — shares
  24. file — a line of people

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