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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: fall · shower · land · straw · wound · bark · rash · stock

  1. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — goods
  2. land — to come down
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. wound — an injury
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. wound — an injury
  9. shower — rain
  10. fall — to drop
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. land — a country
  13. shower — to wash
  14. rash — a series
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. rash — hasty
  20. fall — to drop
  21. fall — the season
  22. stock — shares
  23. bark — to shout
  24. land — ground

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