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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. degree — an amount
  3. clip — for paper
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. wake — a trail
  6. current — electric
  7. stock — goods
  8. date — the fruit
  9. object — a thing
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. clip — to cut
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. degree — from a university
  15. degree — temperature
  16. bark — to shout
  17. clip — a video
  18. current — happening now
  19. current — of water
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. object — to protest
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. object — an aim

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