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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. degree — temperature
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. present — there
  5. shower — to wash
  6. stock — goods
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. stock — shares
  9. roll — a cake
  10. content — happy
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. wake — a trail
  15. degree — an amount
  16. roll — a list
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. shower — rain
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. degree — from a university
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. present — a gift
  24. present — the time now

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