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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: clip · stock · club · chest · firm · chip · hand · branch

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. stock — goods
  3. hand — in cards
  4. firm — a company
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. clip — for paper
  7. hand — help
  8. club — a group
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. firm — steady
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. chip — for betting
  13. chest — of your body
  14. clip — a video
  15. branch — a division
  16. clip — to cut
  17. chest — a box
  18. club — for dancing
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. chest — of your body
  21. firm — decided
  22. chip — to eat
  23. club — for golf
  24. branch — of a bank

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