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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: swing · trunk · bay · bat · stock · wound · hide · clip

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  22. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. stock — goods
  3. wound — an injury
  4. stock — shares
  5. swing — in golf
  6. clip — a video
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. swing — to play on
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. bat — the animal
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. clip — for paper
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. wound — an injury
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. bay — to keep at bay
  22. bay — a part of the sea
  23. swing — music
  24. bat — for baseball

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