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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: mate · wound · stock · file · pop · bank · chest · row

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. mate — to breed
  3. chest — of your body
  4. wound — an injury
  5. mate — a friend
  6. row — to paddle
  7. pop — soda
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. chest — of your body
  10. file — a tool
  11. mate — a partner
  12. row — a line
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a line of people
  16. bank — of a river
  17. chest — a box
  18. bank — for money
  19. wound — an injury
  20. stock — shares
  21. pop — to visit
  22. pop — music
  23. bank — for money
  24. stock — goods

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