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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. rest — what's left
  3. degree — from a university
  4. rest — what's left
  5. pop — to visit
  6. pop — music
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. tear — from crying
  9. capital — a city
  10. stock — goods
  11. tear — from crying
  12. capital — money
  13. degree — temperature
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. tear — to rip
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. stock — shares
  18. pop — soda
  19. mate — a partner
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wind — moving air
  22. rest — a break
  23. mate — a friend
  24. degree — an amount

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