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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: ground · tear · chip · sharp · bat · bark · stock · craft

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. ground — a position
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. craft — boats
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. stock — shares
  7. stock — goods
  8. ground — crushed
  9. tear — from crying
  10. craft — a skill
  11. chip — to eat
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — the animal
  14. ground — the earth
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. sharp — clever
  17. tear — from crying
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. chip — for betting
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. tear — to rip

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