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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. stock — goods
  3. degree — an amount
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. hand — help
  6. capital — money
  7. capital — a city
  8. mine — for digging
  9. race — humankind
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. degree — from a university
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. degree — temperature
  14. race — a contest
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. race — the arms race
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. hand — in cards
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. hide — to keep secret

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