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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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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: tear · clip · season · swing · land · stock · sharp · roll

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. land — a country
  3. swing — to play on
  4. clip — for paper
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. tear — to rip
  8. swing — in golf
  9. swing — music
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. tear — from crying
  13. sharp — clever
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. season — of the year
  16. stock — goods
  17. clip — a video
  18. tear — from crying
  19. clip — to cut
  20. stock — shares
  21. season — in sport
  22. roll — a cake
  23. roll — a list
  24. land — ground

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