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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. club — for dancing
  3. degree — an amount
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. ground — crushed
  6. club — for golf
  7. file — a tool
  8. wake — a trail
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. ground — the earth
  11. net — in sport
  12. stock — goods
  13. file — a document
  14. degree — from a university
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. net — for catching
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. hand — help
  19. degree — temperature
  20. club — a group
  21. hand — in cards
  22. net — after costs
  23. ground — a position
  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