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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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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: net · hand · patient · stock · perch · clip · rule · field

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. perch — the fish
  3. hand — help
  4. field — a subject
  5. clip — a video
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. hand — in cards
  8. clip — to cut
  9. field — farmland
  10. stock — shares
  11. rule — a law
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. net — for catching
  14. net — after costs
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. field — for sport
  19. rule — government
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. net — in sport
  23. stock — goods
  24. clip — for paper

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