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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  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. chest — of your body
  2. stock — goods
  3. degree — from a university
  4. spell — letters
  5. object — to protest
  6. rock — music
  7. court — for sport
  8. degree — an amount
  9. object — a thing
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. court — of a king
  13. game — a match
  14. chest — of your body
  15. stock — shares
  16. rock — a stone
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. spell — a short time
  19. chest — a box
  20. object — an aim
  21. spell — magic
  22. court — of law
  23. game — wild animals
  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