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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: clip · last · rash · cell · stem · shower · mug · stock

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. Where did you ________________ them?
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. mug — a cup
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. clip — to cut
  5. stock — goods
  6. shower — to wash
  7. stem — to come from
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. rash — hasty
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. clip — for paper
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. last — final
  16. mug — a face
  17. mug — to rob
  18. cell — a phone
  19. shower — rain
  20. rash — a series
  21. last — finally
  22. last — to go on
  23. cell — in biology
  24. clip — a video

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