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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: clip · board · squash · bark · stock · march · chest · tear

  1. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. tear — to rip
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. board — a committee
  5. stock — shares
  6. squash — to crush
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — a video
  9. march — the month
  10. chest — of your body
  11. bark — to shout
  12. march — music
  13. squash — the sport
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. board — to get on
  17. tear — from crying
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. tear — from crying
  20. stock — goods
  21. clip — for paper
  22. chest — a box
  23. march — the month
  24. chest — of your body

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