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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. court — of a king
  4. root — of a word
  5. court — for sport
  6. degree — an amount
  7. saw — the tool
  8. saw — the tool
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. field — farmland
  11. field — a subject
  12. stock — goods
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. field — for sport
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. court — of law
  17. root — of a plant
  18. wave — of the sea
  19. root — the cause
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. degree — from a university
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. degree — temperature

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