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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: band · rule · cold · stock · game · tear · branch · stem

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. tear — to rip
  3. tear — from crying
  4. rule — government
  5. branch — a division
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. game — wild animals
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. band — a music group
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. game — a match
  14. tear — from crying
  15. stem — to come from
  16. cold — not warm
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. band — a ring
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. rule — a law
  22. cold — an illness
  23. branch — of a bank
  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