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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  18. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. drill — the tool
  3. stock — shares
  4. stock — goods
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. field — for sport
  7. degree — temperature
  8. fall — to drop
  9. wind — moving air
  10. fall — the season
  11. degree — from a university
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. field — farmland
  14. drill — a practice
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. fall — to drop
  17. safe — out of danger
  18. safe — a strongbox
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. field — a subject
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. wind — moving air
  24. drill — army training

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