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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. shower — to wash
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. content — happy
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. content — the amount
  9. bear — the animal
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. capital — a city
  12. swing — music
  13. shower — rain
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. swing — to play on
  17. degree — from a university
  18. stock — goods
  19. stock — shares
  20. degree — temperature
  21. bear — the animal
  22. capital — money
  23. swing — in golf
  24. stem — to come from

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