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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — temperature
  3. can — to be able to
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. last — final
  6. rule — government
  7. last — finally
  8. stock — shares
  9. saw — the tool
  10. degree — from a university
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. rule — a law
  13. saw — the tool
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. chest — of your body
  16. stock — goods
  17. chest — of your body
  18. cold — an illness
  19. last — to go on
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. can — a tin
  22. chest — a box
  23. can — a tin
  24. cold — not warm

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