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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. wound — an injury
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. degree — temperature
  6. degree — an amount
  7. can — to be able to
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. land — a country
  10. can — a tin
  11. land — ground
  12. stock — goods
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. can — a tin
  15. squash — the sport
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. face — to confront
  18. mine — for digging
  19. stock — shares
  20. face — part of the head
  21. face — to point toward
  22. land — to come down
  23. squash — to crush
  24. wound — an injury

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