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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: trunk · mug · stock · land · chair · last · wind · scale

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Where did you ________________ them?
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  16. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. land — ground
  4. last — final
  5. chair — a leader
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. wind — moving air
  8. mug — to rob
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. stock — shares
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. land — to come down
  14. scale — in music
  15. mug — a face
  16. mug — a cup
  17. stock — goods
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. wind — moving air
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. last — to go on
  22. last — finally
  23. scale — size or range
  24. land — a country

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