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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 116 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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. bark — to shout
  3. clip — for paper
  4. stock — goods
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. cell — in biology
  7. degree — temperature
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. degree — an amount
  10. clip — to cut
  11. fork — in a road
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. stock — shares
  14. track — a path
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. rash — hasty
  18. cell — a phone
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. degree — from a university
  21. rash — a series
  22. track — a song
  23. track — to keep track
  24. clip — a video

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