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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. net — after costs
  4. game — wild animals
  5. degree — an amount
  6. file — a line of people
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. wake — a trail
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. net — for catching
  12. sharp — clever
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. file — a tool
  16. degree — temperature
  17. game — a match
  18. stock — goods
  19. stock — shares
  20. file — a document
  21. ruler — a monarch
  22. degree — from a university
  23. net — in sport
  24. ruler — for measuring

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