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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 supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  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. stock — goods
  2. bark — to shout
  3. stock — shares
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. date — the fruit
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. kid — to tease
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. shower — rain
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. kid — child
  16. degree — temperature
  17. shower — to wash
  18. degree — from a university
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. degree — an amount
  22. dip — to sink
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  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