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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: content · stock · track · bat · clip · march · shower · bark

  1. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. content — happy
  3. track — a path
  4. clip — to cut
  5. march — music
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. bat — the animal
  8. stock — goods
  9. clip — for paper
  10. content — the amount
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. march — the month
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. march — the month
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. bark — to shout
  17. track — a song
  18. shower — to wash
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. track — to keep track
  22. clip — a video
  23. stock — shares
  24. bark — of a tree

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