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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  3. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  4. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  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 — an amount
  2. firm — a company
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. firm — steady
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. spring — of water
  7. capital — a city
  8. spring — a coil
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. stock — shares
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. firm — decided
  13. stock — goods
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — a video
  18. capital — money
  19. spring — the season
  20. lie — to recline
  21. degree — from a university
  22. clip — for paper
  23. fork — in a road
  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