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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 chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — to rule out
  2. stock — shares
  3. game — wild animals
  4. rule — a law
  5. stock — goods
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. wake — a trail
  8. degree — from a university
  9. degree — an amount
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. field — farmland
  12. field — for sport
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. degree — temperature
  15. field — a subject
  16. swing — music
  17. swing — in golf
  18. clip — a video
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. clip — to cut
  21. game — a match
  22. clip — for paper
  23. rule — government
  24. swing — to play on

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