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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 120 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. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a handicraft
  2. hand — in cards
  3. stock — shares
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. scale — in music
  6. mine — for digging
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. degree — temperature
  11. perch — the fish
  12. hand — help
  13. craft — boats
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. stock — goods
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. degree — from a university
  19. scale — size or range
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. craft — a skill
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. degree — an amount

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