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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — from a university
  3. bound — tied together
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. stock — goods
  6. stock — shares
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. root — of a word
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. season — of the year
  11. season — in sport
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. game — a match
  15. root — the cause
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. bound — obliged
  18. degree — temperature
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. bound — certain
  21. lie — to recline
  22. date — the fruit
  23. root — of a plant
  24. game — wild animals

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