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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. cold — an illness
  3. degree — from a university
  4. root — of a plant
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. court — of a king
  7. degree — temperature
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. tear — to rip
  10. root — of a word
  11. pit — in a race
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. court — of law
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. tear — from crying
  17. stock — goods
  18. pit — a hole
  19. snap — to click
  20. root — the cause
  21. court — for sport
  22. cold — not warm
  23. tear — from crying
  24. stock — shares

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