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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: shower · last · rest · swing · clip · stock · branch · ball

  1. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. last — finally
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. last — to go on
  5. clip — to cut
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. rest — what's left
  8. stock — goods
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. swing — music
  11. branch — a division
  12. shower — to wash
  13. clip — for paper
  14. swing — in golf
  15. rest — what's left
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. swing — to play on
  18. stock — shares
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. shower — rain
  21. last — final
  22. clip — a video
  23. rest — a break
  24. ball — a dance

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