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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: rest · chest · mine · rule · ground · staff · clip · stock

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. rule — to rule out
  3. rule — government
  4. ground — crushed
  5. chest — of your body
  6. ground — a position
  7. mine — for digging
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. staff — employees
  10. rest — a break
  11. clip — a video
  12. rule — a law
  13. clip — to cut
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. rest — what's left
  16. chest — of your body
  17. ground — the earth
  18. stock — goods
  19. chest — a box
  20. rest — what's left
  21. staff — a stick
  22. stock — shares
  23. clip — for paper
  24. staff — employees

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