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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: clip · sharp · chest · rash · trunk · field · swing · stock

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. chest — of your body
  3. clip — for paper
  4. chest — a box
  5. stock — goods
  6. clip — a video
  7. sharp — clever
  8. rash — hasty
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. swing — to play on
  12. field — a subject
  13. clip — to cut
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. rash — a series
  16. field — for sport
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. stock — shares
  19. swing — in golf
  20. chest — of your body
  21. swing — music
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. field — farmland
  24. sharp — with an edge

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