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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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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: fork · stock · clip · march · tear · fall · band · press

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. fall — to drop
  3. band — a ring
  4. march — the month
  5. fall — the season
  6. stock — shares
  7. fall — to drop
  8. press — to push
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. clip — a video
  11. march — music
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. press — newspapers
  14. fork — in a road
  15. tear — from crying
  16. stock — goods
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. tear — from crying
  19. march — the month
  20. tear — to rip
  21. clip — for paper
  22. press — a publisher
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. clip — to cut

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