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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: chip · tear · scale · shower · stock · cold · fork · swing

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. swing — music
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. stock — shares
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. swing — in golf
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. tear — to rip
  9. tear — from crying
  10. fork — in a road
  11. chip — for betting
  12. chip — to eat
  13. scale — in music
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. shower — to wash
  17. scale — size or range
  18. swing — to play on
  19. cold — not warm
  20. shower — rain
  21. tear — from crying
  22. stock — goods
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. cold — an illness

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