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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: stock · bowl · chest · spell · clip · wound · cold · squash

  1. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. clip — a video
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wound — an injury
  6. stock — shares
  7. squash — to crush
  8. cold — not warm
  9. chest — a box
  10. squash — the sport
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. spell — letters
  13. cold — an illness
  14. spell — magic
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. clip — for paper
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. stock — goods
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — of your body
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. clip — to cut

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