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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. The light ________________ burned out.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  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. degree — from a university
  2. stock — shares
  3. key — the most important part
  4. rest — what's left
  5. key — in music
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bulb — for light
  9. bulb — for light
  10. key — for a lock
  11. degree — an amount
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. tear — to rip
  15. rest — a break
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. stock — goods
  19. tear — from crying
  20. mine — for digging
  21. rest — what's left
  22. tear — from crying
  23. bulb — of a plant
  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