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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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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. degree — temperature
  3. present — there
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. stock — goods
  6. land — ground
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. degree — from a university
  9. degree — an amount
  10. chip — for betting
  11. present — a gift
  12. rash — a series
  13. clip — a video
  14. rash — hasty
  15. craft — boats
  16. land — to come down
  17. present — the time now
  18. craft — a skill
  19. chip — to eat
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. clip — for paper
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. clip — to cut
  24. land — a country

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