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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. degree — from a university
  4. mark — a trace
  5. tear — to rip
  6. degree — temperature
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. degree — an amount
  9. tear — from crying
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. mark — a grade
  12. tear — from crying
  13. cell — a phone
  14. game — a match
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. branch — a division
  17. chest — a box
  18. cell — in biology
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — of your body
  22. stock — shares
  23. game — wild animals
  24. stock — goods

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