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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 120 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. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. Where did you ________________ them?
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. mug — a cup
  3. mug — to rob
  4. chest — of your body
  5. stock — goods
  6. degree — from a university
  7. land — a country
  8. squash — to crush
  9. degree — an amount
  10. spring — a coil
  11. chest — of your body
  12. land — ground
  13. degree — temperature
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. stock — shares
  16. spring — of water
  17. squash — the sport
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. row — a line
  20. spring — the season
  21. mug — a face
  22. land — to come down
  23. chest — a box
  24. row — a quarrel

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