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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: fine · fall · stock · scale · fork · clip · chest · lie

  1. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. fine — all right
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. clip — to cut
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. fall — to drop
  8. fall — the season
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. chest — of your body
  12. clip — for paper
  13. stock — shares
  14. lie — to recline
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. fork — in a road
  17. scale — size or range
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chest — a box
  20. stock — goods
  21. clip — a video
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. fall — to drop
  24. scale — in music

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