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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: chair · file · swing · stock · bark · land · hide · saw

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. swing — to play on
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. bark — to shout
  5. chair — a leader
  6. land — to come down
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. land — ground
  9. swing — in golf
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. saw — the tool
  13. file — a line of people
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. file — a document
  17. file — a tool
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. hide — animal skin
  21. swing — music
  22. land — a country
  23. stock — goods
  24. saw — the tool

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