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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 120 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: stock · kid · bark · row · club · fine · patient · chest

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. kid — to tease
  3. chest — of your body
  4. club — for golf
  5. fine — all right
  6. fine — high quality
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. row — a line
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. chest — a box
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. club — for dancing
  14. chest — of your body
  15. stock — goods
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. row — to paddle
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. stock — shares
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. bark — to shout
  23. kid — child
  24. club — a group

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