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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  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. stock — shares
  2. degree — an amount
  3. craft — boats
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. degree — from a university
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. scale — size or range
  8. stock — goods
  9. clip — to cut
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. content — the amount
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. scale — in music
  14. craft — a skill
  15. degree — temperature
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. fine — all right
  18. content — happy
  19. clip — for paper
  20. fine — high quality
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. clip — a video
  23. craft — a handicraft
  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