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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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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: club · stock · clip · branch · drill · pitcher · snap · ground

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. branch — a division
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. club — for golf
  5. stock — shares
  6. club — a group
  7. stock — goods
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. drill — army training
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. club — for dancing
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. ground — the earth
  14. drill — the tool
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. clip — a video
  17. clip — to cut
  18. ground — a position
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. clip — for paper
  21. snap — to click
  22. ground — crushed
  23. drill — a practice
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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