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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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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. degree — temperature
  3. stock — goods
  4. stock — shares
  5. capital — money
  6. pop — music
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. file — a document
  10. file — a tool
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. capital — a city
  13. lean — thin
  14. lean — to bend
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. degree — from a university
  17. pop — soda
  18. file — a line of people
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. wound — an injury
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. wound — an injury
  24. degree — an amount

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