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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 120 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: temple · stock · clip · current · wound · field · march · stem

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. clip — for paper
  3. current — of water
  4. temple — side of the head
  5. stock — goods
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. stock — shares
  11. field — a subject
  12. wound — an injury
  13. wound — an injury
  14. clip — a video
  15. stem — to come from
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. march — music
  19. field — farmland
  20. current — electric
  21. clip — to cut
  22. march — the month
  23. field — for sport
  24. current — happening now

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