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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: wind · saw · file · row · clip · stock · march · object

  1. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. march — music
  3. stock — goods
  4. file — a document
  5. wind — moving air
  6. march — the month
  7. file — a tool
  8. march — the month
  9. object — to protest
  10. saw — the tool
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. row — a line
  13. saw — the tool
  14. file — a line of people
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. clip — a video
  17. object — a thing
  18. row — to paddle
  19. wind — moving air
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. clip — to cut
  22. clip — for paper
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. stock — shares

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