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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: stem · current · stock · clip · pitcher · tear · cold · present

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. current — electric
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. tear — to rip
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. tear — from crying
  9. present — the time now
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. clip — a video
  12. tear — from crying
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. stock — shares
  15. clip — to cut
  16. present — a gift
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. stock — goods
  20. clip — for paper
  21. stem — to come from
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. current — of water
  24. current — happening now

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