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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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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 · wound · date · rash · prune · hand · drill · tear

  1. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. wound — an injury
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. stock — goods
  6. stock — shares
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. drill — a practice
  9. drill — army training
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. rash — hasty
  12. prune — to trim
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. prune — to trim
  15. date — the fruit
  16. hand — help
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. tear — from crying
  20. hand — in cards
  21. tear — to rip
  22. wound — an injury
  23. drill — the tool
  24. tear — from crying

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