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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. cold — not warm
  3. degree — an amount
  4. land — to come down
  5. scale — size or range
  6. stock — shares
  7. degree — from a university
  8. stock — goods
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. land — a country
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. land — ground
  14. scale — in music
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. wake — a trail
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. stock — a soup base

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