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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 124 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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. wound — an injury
  3. kid — to tease
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. bat — the animal
  6. hand — in cards
  7. stock — goods
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. track — a song
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. wound — an injury
  12. kid — child
  13. track — a path
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. saw — the tool
  17. saw — the tool
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. degree — temperature
  20. stock — shares
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. hand — help
  23. track — to keep track
  24. degree — an amount

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