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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. stock — shares
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. file — a line of people
  6. mark — a trace
  7. cold — an illness
  8. mark — a grade
  9. degree — temperature
  10. degree — from a university
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. file — a tool
  15. cold — not warm
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. file — a document
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. degree — an amount
  23. stock — goods
  24. cold — the Cold War

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