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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: swing · wound · stock · chest · bank · calf · cold · shower

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  5. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. swing — music
  3. stock — shares
  4. bank — for money
  5. bank — for money
  6. shower — to wash
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wound — an injury
  9. chest — of your body
  10. cold — not warm
  11. swing — to play on
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. chest — a box
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. wound — an injury
  18. shower — rain
  19. swing — in golf
  20. stock — goods
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. bank — of a river
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cold — the Cold War

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