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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 116 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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. wound — an injury
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. spring — a coil
  5. cold — an illness
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. spring — the season
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. shower — rain
  11. degree — temperature
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. deal — to handle
  15. spring — of water
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. stock — goods
  19. cold — not warm
  20. degree — an amount
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. shower — to wash
  23. degree — from a university
  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