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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: stock · mug · tear · hand · bat · cold · firm · branch

  1. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. mug — a cup
  3. tear — from crying
  4. mug — to rob
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. firm — steady
  7. stock — goods
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. hand — in cards
  11. cold — not warm
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. tear — to rip
  14. mug — a face
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. cold — an illness
  17. tear — from crying
  18. firm — a company
  19. bat — the animal
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. firm — decided
  22. hand — help
  23. cold — the Cold War
  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