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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 116 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 · rest · stem · stock · coach · tube · tear · file

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. stock — goods
  3. tube — a container
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. tear — to rip
  9. rest — what's left
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. stock — shares
  12. tear — from crying
  13. file — a line of people
  14. file — a tool
  15. wind — moving air
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. rest — what's left
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. file — a document
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. tube — the underground
  22. rest — a break
  23. wind — moving air
  24. tear — from crying

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