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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: bore · stock · tear · hand · mug · spring · clip · cold

  1. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  9. Where did you ________________ them?
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. bore — to drill
  3. spring — of water
  4. clip — for paper
  5. tear — from crying
  6. mug — a face
  7. stock — shares
  8. mug — a cup
  9. mug — to rob
  10. spring — the season
  11. clip — to cut
  12. tear — from crying
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. cold — an illness
  15. hand — in cards
  16. clip — a video
  17. tear — to rip
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. hand — help
  22. spring — a coil
  23. stock — goods
  24. stock — a soup base

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