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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. This piece is in a major ________________.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. spring — of water
  3. stock — shares
  4. bass — low music
  5. degree — from a university
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. degree — an amount
  8. clip — to cut
  9. face — to confront
  10. key — the most important part
  11. spring — a coil
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. key — for a lock
  14. key — in music
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. face — to point toward
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. clip — a video
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. bass — the fish
  21. spring — the season
  22. clip — for paper
  23. stock — goods
  24. degree — temperature

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