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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. degree — temperature
  5. degree — an amount
  6. pop — soda
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. cap — a hat
  9. stock — goods
  10. pop — to visit
  11. cold — not warm
  12. rule — government
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. cap — of ice
  15. hand — in cards
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pop — music
  18. craft — a skill
  19. rule — a law
  20. cap — a lid
  21. degree — from a university
  22. stock — shares
  23. craft — boats
  24. rule — to rule out

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