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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. degree — from a university
  5. degree — temperature
  6. tear — to rip
  7. spell — letters
  8. court — of law
  9. stock — goods
  10. tear — from crying
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. can — a tin
  14. scale — in music
  15. can — to be able to
  16. scale — size or range
  17. court — of a king
  18. spell — a short time
  19. court — for sport
  20. stock — shares
  21. spell — magic
  22. can — a tin
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. tear — from crying

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