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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: wave · row · chest · kick · stock · staff · cold · rock

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. rock — music
  3. stock — goods
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. chest — of your body
  6. row — a line
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. staff — employees
  9. cold — an illness
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. kick — in football
  12. cold — not warm
  13. staff — employees
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. chest — of your body
  16. stock — shares
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. row — to paddle
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. rock — a stone
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. chest — a box
  24. staff — a stick

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