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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  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. track — to keep track
  2. stock — shares
  3. chest — a box
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. race — the arms race
  7. degree — an amount
  8. row — to paddle
  9. track — a path
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. row — a line
  13. clip — to cut
  14. degree — from a university
  15. clip — for paper
  16. clip — a video
  17. track — a song
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. chest — of your body
  20. race — a contest
  21. chest — of your body
  22. degree — temperature
  23. race — humankind
  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