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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 muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. cell — in biology
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. degree — an amount
  5. degree — from a university
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. season — in sport
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. degree — temperature
  11. track — a song
  12. stock — shares
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. march — music
  15. cell — a phone
  16. track — to keep track
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. sharp — clever
  19. march — the month
  20. stock — goods
  21. march — the month
  22. date — the fruit
  23. season — of the year
  24. date — on the calendar

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